מ ק ש ר MIDWEST DISTRICT M'KESHER

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1 Having trouble viewing this ? Click here מ ק ש ר MIDWEST DISTRICT M'KESHER November 2017 Cheshvan 5778 A Message from Janet Buckstein Midwest District President Greetings! There is no better way to celebrate community than to learn, pray and play together and in October more than 70 sisterhood and district leaders attended Midwest District s Leadership Training Weekend and Interim Board Meeting held at OSRUI. Open Hearts Will Open Doors had an emphasis on member engagement, and Area VP Laura Cooper and Co-chairs Dale Cone, Joanne Merritt, and Lorri Fishman put together an incredible weekend of leadership training workshops and services with singing and prayer. WRJ guest Blair Marks, President of WRJ, provided information on all things WRJ, as well as her insight into how to engage sisterhood members, and techniques for how to do effective brainstorming. New OSRUI Camp Director Solly Kane joined us on Saturday and led Torah Study. Denise Fogel, Marilyn Weisberg and song leader Ari Goldstein led extremely moving services on Friday and Saturday, dedicated to the memory of Gale Nudelman. Havdalah was led by Denise and Ari. We also took the opportunity to support Family Resources in

2 Davenport, Iowa through our donations of new bras to this women s shelter. Saturday night Sandi Firsel led us in an event to raise dollars for the WRJ YES Fund. A walk had been planned, but inclement weather convinced us that an indoor activity would be more appropriate. So, Sandi adapted a game Dale Cone had created of life-sized Jewish Trivial Pursuit to a fundraising event. The phrase flexible people don t get bent out of shape epitomizes Sandi, who always comes up with fun and innovative programs. We donated to participate on a team, to sponsor teams, to roll dice, to steal questions. you name it! The result was over $1,700 for the YES Fund! This weekend is a wonderful time to be together, but it is also much more. As part of the meeting we hold both our Midwest District Executive Committee meeting and Midwest District Board of Directors meeting. These women work very hard to bring you resources and support from WRJ. They serve as advisers to sisterhoods and assure we have the necessary funding to deliver it, raise funds for OSRUI and the YES Fund, coordinate and manage district social action programs and advocacy, implement all communications efforts for our district, and support the programming and membership resource needs of sisterhoods. At our board meeting I acknowledged the accomplishments of some of these leaders, but every one of them deserves my, and your, thanks. Here is a list of the women who are serving you. Finally, my thanks to a very special group of women who serve on the WRJ Board of Directors. They support WRJ s global initiatives to ensure the future of Reform Judaism and our goal of Tikkun Olam, and they support sisterhoods throughout North America. But we must not forget that they support our district! They are members of our Executive Committee and provide history, knowledge and insight as we deal with issues and opportunities. They are: WRJ Vice President, Sherri Feuer

3 WRJ Executive Committee Member, Marla Goldberg WRJ Board Members: Rozan Anderson, Carol Berger, Sandi Firsel, Marcy Frost, Diane Kaplan, Susan Pittelman, Michelle Scheinkopf, Jane Taves, Lynne Turry, Linn Ullenbrauck, Judith Wexler, and Zabe Williams. While I am not one to deflect compliments, when you are acknowledging my work, these are the women who deserve your accolades! Stronger together! L'Shalom, Janet Buckstein President, WRJ Midwest District Creating Our WRJ Community Are You Stepping UP? by Janet Buckstein Guess what s coming up WRJ Fried Leadership Conference! Registration is now open for this March 1-3, 2018 program in Nashville, Tennessee. We hope many of you from Midwest District will join us and we will definitely provide an opportunity for you to meet and network with others from our district and around the world. If no one from your sisterhood has attended recently, you may also be eligible for a grant from WRJ. For more information, click here. I know that many of you are doing wonderful things to create our WRJ community. Let me know and I ll let everyone else know!

4 WRJ Outreach Grants WRJ is providing outreach grants in amounts up to $1,000 to WRJ sisterhoods and women s groups, to fund programs that reach out to interfaith families and non-jews within their communities. These grants, made possible by the National Center to Encourage Judaism, are designed to encourage and enhance learning about Judaism and participation in Jewish life. Some suggestions for programs or projects are: (1) Inviting interfaith or non-jewish families in your community to a program based on a Jewish holiday; (2) Hosting Shabbat dinners for interfaith families within and outside of your congregation; (3) Developing a specific group for non-jewish women for your Chai Mitzvah program. Please see the WRJ website for additional programming ideas. Be creative! The application for these grants is now available on the WRJ website, and applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis over the next year. Any sisterhood or women s group that receives funding will be required to submit an evaluation form upon completion of the program, and programs must be completed by June 1, WRJ Midwest District's Camp Donation Thanks to donations from local Sisterhoods, WRJ Midwest District was able to provide a small cash donation to Camp GUCI. For OSRUI $1,400 was being used to fulfill a request for new life preservers to be used on the waterfront at OSRUI. Here is Kathy Madura making the presentation to Solly Kane. Thank you for your continued support of Jewish summer camp experiences for our youth!

5 WRJ Promotional Display If you were at the WRJ Midwest District Leadership Training & Interim Board Meeting weekend, did you happen to see the WRJ display in Soref? VP Marketing & Communications and WRJ Board Member Linn Ullenbrauck helped create a visual display. One project board promoted WRJ, Midwest District and upcoming WRJ events, the other project board promoted the YES Fund. There was an assortment of publications, brochures and swag on the table that showed all that is available. You can create your own display with materials that are available on the WRJ website. Have questions, contact Linn Ullenbrauck. WRJ Midwest District is on Yammer! Every woman who serves on the WRJ Midwest District Board as well as serving on your Sisterhood/Women's Group board can be on Yammer. Yammer is a communications hub where women of WRJ can share ideas, celebrate successes, ask for assistance, find resources and build community. Yammer is an invaluable tool for sisterhood leaders to share strategies and programming, ask questions, and connect with other leaders from North America and around the world. Conversations are located in a central place. Resources can be connected to conversations, including documents, recordings, and photos. These files are stored in Yammer and searchable at any time. You may join groups from fundraising, programming, advocacy, membership and more. All sisterhood presidents should be on Yammer and there is a special group just for you! Midwest District has a group calledmidwest District Leadership. We encourage everyone who serves on their sisterhood/women's group board or chairs a project to sign up for yammer. To do that, please send an to leadership@wrj.org. Provide your name, your role, sisterhood/woman's group name, city and state. You will receive an invitation to the WRJ Yammer site. An invitation is required to access WRJ on Yammer. Go to Log-in with your (the one where you received the invitation and your password.)

6 Congratulations! You are on the Yammer site! Click here to learn more about Yammer. Questions? Contact Linn Ullenbrauck. Sisterhood / Women's Group Events in the District: November 8, Beth Tikvah Sisterhood, Jewish Women in American History November 19, Sisterhood Temple Beth Israel, Artisan Faire November 19, BJBE Sisterhood Holiday Boutique December 10, Women of Temple Chai Holiday Bazaar Need help publicizing your next event? Please send a pdf flyer to your area director and we will try to include it. Materials must be received by the 15th of the month prior to the event. Medicinal Marijuana by Richard Greenberg by Marilyn Glazer How does Judaism view this issue? It views it with a decidedly "therapeutic" eye as it balances the sometimes competing values of compassion, love, social welfare and the sanctity of human life. Let's start with compassion, which is one of our tradition's paramount virtues. Why? Because it is one of God's paramount virtues, as many of our holy texts can attest to. Compassion, in fact, is one of the first of God's 13 Attributes of Mercy that is mentioned in the Torah (Exodus 34:6-7), and that we recite in unison three times on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If a doctor is not compassionate, he's probably not worth his weight in tongue depressors. And his bedside manner probably leaves something to be desired. But he still has a sacred obligation to heal, a requirement that our Sages derived from various Torah passages, including "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself

7 (Leviticus 19:18), "You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:16) and another one mandating the healing of someone injured in a quarrel (Exodus 21:18-19). Meanwhile, one of our greatest thinkers -- the 12th and 13th century philosopher, Sage and, yes, physician Maimonides -- drew a parallel between the binding obligation to return lost property (Deuteronomy 22:2) and an equally binding obligation to restore lost health. The halachic imperative to heal also is a reflection of Judaism's belief in the absolute sanctity and inestimable value of human life, a belief embodied in the Talmudic adage that if one saves a single life it is tantamount to saving the entire world (Sanhedrin 37a). "The value with which human life is regarded in the Jewish tradition is maximized far beyond the value placed upon human life in the Christian tradition or in Anglo-Saxon common law," wrote Rabbi J. David Bleich in the book "Jewish Bioethics." So deeply rooted is this value, he added, that it takes precedence "beyond virtually all other considerations." Click here to read the entire article. Questions? Contact Marilyn@MarilynGlazer.com Yom Huledet Sameach (Happy Birthday) to our Midwest Board Members and Alumnae: November: 1 Jane Page - j anepage67@gmail.com 1 Beth Shoub - bshoub@comcast.net 4 Sharon Kalling - sharon.kalling@berrienresa.org 8 Lisa Rosenstock - lisagolf11@gmail.com 8 Anne Wright - Annehow2@earthlink.net 9 Barbara Heinrich - BGHHeinrich@comcast.net 9 Gayle Weil - gweil119@yahoo.com 12 Amy Tuckler - amytuchler@yahoo.com 13 Roberta Krolick - rlkrolick@aol.com 14 Sandie Sklar - ssklarz@aol.com 15 Sarah Lynch - sarahrlynch@gmail.com 20 Julia Ziev - jgziev@sbcglobal.net 21 Jennifer Schneider - jeisen45@gmail.com 22 Marla Goldberg - auntiemar@msn.com 25 Susan Barnes - susanbarnes1@frontier.com 30 Penny Levy - pjoylevy@aol.com December:

8 2 Susan Pittelman Judy Levin Sandra Brottman Cherrie Worker Julie Newman Marilyn Rodman Dolly DeCaro Alice Lambie Debbi Josephson Lene Mirkin -- We wish a speedy recovery to: Past President and Bylaws Revisions Chair Marcy Frost As you are putting together your newsletters & e-blasts, please use these updated forms: WRJ Sisterhood Leadership Change Form (This is WRJ's Leadership form) Midwest District Sisterhood President Info Form 2017 Speakers Bureau Request Form Expense Reimbursement Form District Deposit Form Alumni Association Brochure Having a WRJ speaker available for Sisterhood Services, installations or to just help facilitate or conduct workshops is really easy to do. Just fill out this form and return it to me to let me know what you are looking for. Do you know someone who has an area of expertise she might be willing to share? We are looking to expand our Speaker's Bureau and we can only do that with the help of each of you. I am looking forward to your requests and wonderful ideas from each and every one of you. Thanks! Gloria Kaiz, Midwest District Speaker Bureau s Chair gloria@kaizs.com. Save these Dates!

9 2018 Fried Leadership Conference Start planning for next year's Fried Leadership Conference to be held in Nashville, Tennessee on March 1-4, Registration is now open. Please note - this conference falls on Purim. Join WRJ at the URJ Biennial Check out this list of ways to connect with WRJ while you are in Boston December 6-10, 2017! WRJ strengthens the voice of women worldwide and empowers them to create caring communities, nurture congregations, cultivate personal and spiritual growth, and advocate for and promote progressive Jewish values. Connect With Us Sign up for our Eblast Visit our Midwest District website Like and follow us on Facebook Contact: Janet Buckstein, WRJ Midwest District President jfbuckstein@gmail.com wrjmdpres@gmail.com