Shabbat-O-Gram

 

September 7, 2007– Elul 24, 5767

Covering the week of Rosh Hashanah 5768

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

 

A Good and Sweet New year to All

 

The Full Rosh Hashanah Schedule is at our website, www.tbe.org

 

Send your friends and relatives the gift of Jewish awareness -- a Shabbat-O-Gram each week, by signing them up at www.tbe.org.  To be removed from this mailing list, sent e-mail request to office@tbe.org.  If you have signed up and are not receiving our e-mails, check your spam filter to make sure that TBE is not being “spammed out.”

 

 

 

Check out Education Director Eran Vaisben’s new blog at

www.TBEeducation.wordpress.com

 

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

    The Beth El Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary

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

 Announcements (goings on in and around TBE)

Joke for the Week

 

Quote for the Week

 

“Born originals,

how comes it to pass

that we die copies?”

                                - Edward Young

 

 

 

JUST THE FACTS

 

Candle lighting: 6:59 pm on Friday, 8 September 2007.  For Havdalah 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/.  The United Synagogue has updated its candlelighting information. To learn more, click here.

 

Friday Evening:

 

Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – Outdoors

JOIN US FOR WHAT PROMISES TO BE A GORGEOUS EVENING

 

Tot Shabbat: 6:45 PM – in the lobby 

First one of the season!

 

Shabbat Morning: 9:30

 

Mazal tov to Skyler ross (and Parents Howie and Abby)

as he becomes bar mitzvah this shabbat morning!

 

Children’s Service (with Nurit ): 10:30 AM 

 

Saturday Evening

Havdalah at the Beach @ Cove Island: 6:00 PM

 

Selichot Service, preceded by coffee hour and movie & discussion on

“The Tribe”: 8:30 PM

 

Our Torah Portion for Shabbat Morning

Parashat Netzavim - Vayelech

פרשת נצבים־וילך

Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30

1: 31:7-9
2: 31:10-13
3: 31:14-19
4: 31:20-22
5: 31:22-24
6: 31:25-27
7: 31:28-30
maf: 31:28-30

Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9

THE ENTIRE HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION AT http://www.mechon-mamre.org/

100 Blessings: Download information about the grace after meals (see Birkat Ha-mazon explained in Wikipedia and in the Jewish Virtual Library)  The actual prayer can be downloaded at Birkat Hamazon [pdf]

Morning Minyan

7:30 Weekdays, 9:30 Sundays

PLEASE SIGN UP AT OUR WEBSITE WWW.TBE.ORG – THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER!

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.

 

 

 

The

 (occasionally)

Ranting Rabbi

 

The Eisen Inauguration

         

I had the pleasure of attending the inauguration of the new chancellor of JTS on Wednesday in Manhattan.  It was a spectacular day filled symbolism and pomp.  We knew from the first moment of the ceremony that things will be different, as the faculty and special guests processed in not to the typical graduation march or hymn, but to an African drum troupe dressed in native garb.  From the first drumbeat there was the clear indication that this wuld not be a business-as-usual administration.  This is not your father’s JTS.  The new chancellor will literally march to the beat of a different drummer.

 

Everything feels new.  If you go to the Seminary’s website, http://www.jtsa.edu/, you’ll see a new format.  Then go to the site of the inauguration, http://www.jtsa.edu/prebuilt/inauguration/index.shtml, where you can watch a video of the entire event.  The JTS press release of the event proclaims:

Calling it his “great privilege to build upon and carry forward” the work of the past JTS chancellors, including his immediate predecessor, Dr. Ismar Schorsch, and such luminary scholars as Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mordecai Kaplan, and Solomon Schechter, Chancellor Eisen said in the coming year JTS will:
 
1. Contribute directly to the Conservative Movement. Referencing his year-long “listening tour,” during which he heard the aspirations and criticisms Conservative Jews have for JTS and the Conservative Movement, JTS will assist in the articulation of a clear message about what the Conservative Movement is and what it stands for. Chancellor Eisen will also help facilitate conversation among Movement representatives about improving on its structure.

2. Contribute directly to the Jewish people. Chancellor Eisen has long made it known he is committed to increasing the attachment between American Jewry and Israel. He announced that JTS will host a number of programs dedicated to brainstorming ways to bring the two communities together as well as to celebrate Israel’s upcoming sixtieth anniversary.

3. Contribute directly to the United States and Canada by demonstrating visibly and forcefully that faith can be an instrument of cooperation. Plans include laying the groundwork for cooperative arrangements with other religious institutions of higher learning and active religious engagement with Muslims.

And, with the Jewish New Year just one week away, Chancellor Eisen announced the Mitzvah Initiative, in which he has invited all Rabbinical Assembly (RA) rabbis to participate in a Movement-wide focus on mitzvah (commandedness) during the Jewish New Year period and dedicate at least one sermon to this subject. This attention to mitzvah during the holiday period will be followed by an intensive pilot program of learning and conversation throughout the year in a number of congregations across the country as a first step of invigorating discussion among and between Conservative Jews.

Indeed, I’ll be abiding by that request during the holidays – and Chancellor Eisen will be visiting Fairfield County this coming March, at which time we’ll all get to hear his message directly. You can read the entire inaugural address at http://www.jtsa.edu/prebuilt/inauguration/inauguraladdress2007.pdf.  The following passage may have drawn the most enthusiastic applause:

 

Let me say, before going any further, not only as a leader of Conservative Judaism but as a lifelong Conservative Jew and a scholar of American Judaism, that I utterly reject talk of decline when it comes to the state of the Movement and its prospects. Malaise is in the eye or head of the beholder. It is certainly not in mine.

 

Malaise is in the eye of the beholder.  Or, as I wrote in this month’s bulletin, contrary to the popular adage, perception is not reality: Attitude shapes reality.”  A new year begins a new era for Conservative Judaism, and for all of us.

 

 

Some Suggestions for Revitalizing the Conservative Movement

http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/ConservativeRevitalize.htm

 

 

Israel @ 60

celebrating Israel’s 60th year

January 10-18, 2008

On this unforgettable journey, we’ll:

  • Explore Jerusalem’s latest finds with a noted archeologist
  • Bring ancient texts to life with faculty of the renowned Hartman Institute
  • Be briefed by experts on the news behind the headlines
  • Meet with representatives of Israel’s thriving hi-tech industry
  • Learn about the latest ideas in Jewish environmentalism
  • Hear first hand about the latest efforts in Arab-Jewish and interfaith relations
  • Learn about early Zionism and meet a hero from Israel’s founding
  • Hear about the growth of Masorti (Conservative) Judaism
  • Bring care packages to soldiers on the northern border
  • Meet the brave firefighters of Kiryat Shemona
  • Discuss art and Kabbalah with an expert in Safed
  • Spend a glorious Shabbat in Jerusalem
  • And much more!

 

For the full itinerary and registration form, click on

http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/TBEIsraelSeminar2008.htm

 

 

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties

 

Beth El Cares:

Inreach and Outreach

 

 

I received this urgent request from TBE and Stamford native Wendy Skigen daughter of long time members George Skigen of blessed memory and Estelle Skigen).  She can be contacted directly at joyskeets@yahoo.com

jh

 

“My name is Wendy Skigen and I'm 55 years young, n/s, needing an affordable place to live in the Fairfield County, CT area. To be honest I am unemployed at the moment and have been looking for a permanent or temp to perm position as an administrative assistant. I am collecting unemployment at the moment that is less than $200 wkly. I do have two well behaved 8 year old female indoor cats whom I adore (they're like my babies). I can't afford much (0 - $700) at least not until I find a job that pays more than what I'm making now. Would like to have private bathroom and kitchenette with stove (L-Shaped or Alcove apt.).  I have been living with my cousin Randy, his wife and two children for about 4 years. They now need the space I'm living in that is the reason I'm looking for a place to live.

***********************

HIGH HOLY DAY FOOD DRIVE - SEPTEMBER 21-22, 2007
 
Start the new year with a mitzvah!  
We are collecting food to stock the pantry of Person to Person, 
an agency that supports people in need.
 
Grocery bags will be handed out on Rosh Hashanah.  
Please give generously to the High Holy Day Food Drive 
by filling one or more bags with non perishable food items.  
Bring your filled bags to the Temple on Yom Kippur.  
Your donation will be delivered to Person to Person 
and appreciated by many people.  Volunteers are needed to unload the food 
and stock the pantry at Person to Person
 on Monday, September 24th at 9:00 a.m.  The more people who help, the less time it takes.  
Please call Cathy Satz at 968-9191 if you can help.  
Come for an hour, come for two.
 
The date for unloading at person to person has been changed to 
MONDAY, September 24 at 9 am. 

***********************

 

MS Bike Ride – from Mark Plotzky

 

 

Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with MS. That's why I have registered for the MS Bike Tour for the last 3 years, and why I'm asking you to support my fund raising efforts this year with a tax-deductible donation.

 

This year’s MS Bike Tour will be very special one for me. Instead of riding the 30 mile route by myself, as I have in the past, I will be joined by my daughter, Jenna.  Together we will ride the 12 Mile Route and we are both excited to be able to help others. Jenna already started to give back to her community in many ways including donating her hair to Locks of Love, saving loose change to donate to charity, and helping to send Girl Scout Cookies to American soldiers overseas. I am so very proud of her and know that this is one more area she will excel in and be able to help others.

 

Any donation that you or your company can provide would be greatly appreciated. Any questions, please feel free to contact me at 203.359.2290. Simply click on the links at the bottom of this message to sponsor me or Jenna.

 

P.S. If you would like more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Bike Tour are used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against MS, please visit nationalmssociety.org.

 

Click here to visit Jenna's personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=3861201&pg=personal&fr_id=7020&s_tafId=57583

 

Click here to visit Mark's personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=2150852&pg=personal&fr_id=7020&s_tafId=57583