the Shofar srael Congregation is coming to Stratton Mountain! More specifically, Israel Congregation

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1 the Shofar 24 Shvat - 23 Adar/February 2008 Inside this issue: From the Rabbi 1 Tikkun Olam 1 President s Message Center of Learning 2 Library Notes 3 Kids Korner 4 Religious School 4 Calendar 5 Ma aser Sheni 6 Advertising 7 2 You Are Cordially Invited ~ Israel Congregation Dinner at Stratton I srael Congregation is coming to Stratton Mountain! More specifically, Israel Congregation members Irene and Ed Glazer are opening their home the evening of February 23 at 6:30 p.m. to our Israel Congregation members and friends from Stratton and environs to a ʺfriend raiserʺ at their home. If you are an ʺover the mountain personʺ and would like to come, please let Irene and Ed know by giving them a call at Dinner will be served, so RSVPs are a must. There is no cost. You may ask: what is the purpose of this and why now? Irene and Ed came to me early on in my tenure as Israel Congregationʹs rabbi, along with other folks from the Stratton area, and requested that Israel Congregation extend itself to the Mountain. They find being part of Israel Congregation an important part of what it means to live in this area and they want to share Israel Congregation with people who might not make it down to Manchester on a regular basis. They think, and I agree, that it makes sense to reach out to people who call the Stratton area home by bringing the synagogue to Stratton. Tikkun Olam ~ Blessing Baskets M any thanks to all of our members for your generosity and the support you have shown for the homeless in Bennington County. By the middle of January, so many items had been donated to our Blessing Baskets, the baskets were overflowing and the lobby of Israel Congregation was a veritable treasure trove of new household cleaning items. The donations were collected and empty baskets left for additional donations until the end of January. The Tikkun Olam committee is now organizing your donations into individual baskets which will be brought to the shelter run by the Bennington Coalition Many of you know that I donʹt ski and have no plans for taking it up this winter. That being said, you should also know that I have found many wonderful reasons to be in and around Stratton the people. Stratton is one of our regionʹs draws (along with the other great ski areas) and from what Iʹve heard, quite a few Jewish people enjoy skiing there in the winter and golfing there in the mild summer climate. continued on pg. 5 for the Homeless. Tikkun Olam members will purchase any additional items that may be necessary to complete each of the baskets and, where there are too many of one or more items, the extra items will be donated directly to the shelter. There is definitely a need for every item. Stay tuned to next monthʹs column to learn the final tally on the baskets! In addition to this project, in the past month we have made major contributions to the Food Cupboard and the Interfaith Council s Emergency Needs Funds. Micki Lisman

2 Page 2 the Shofar President s Message A s we leap into this month of February, the synagogue continues to be buzzing with activity. Along with great attendance at Friday night and Saturday morning services, almost every other day of the week finds our building welcoming people for various clubs, meetings, classes and events. We often offer our space to nonprofits for meetings or seminars and two mornings a week you can find the Bone Builders, a free exercise class sponsored by RSVP, lifting weights to the oldies. Our many committees (think about joining one!) meet periodically throughout the month and sometimes you re lucky enough to be treated to a little choir practice while you re there. Cooking classes, conversational Hebrew instruction, our 60 series, and Interfaith Council events are a sampling of what goes on during any given week. The monthly book club has chosen some wonderful books and browsing through our library has become a new indoor sport. Celebrating Jewish festivals, commemorating important dates in history and youth group get togethers quickly fill up the calendar. A few years ago when plans were being made to expand our building, our hopes were for the synagogue to be a beacon of light in New England for the entire Northshire community. We have accomplished many of those dreams. But we haven t stopped dreaming yet and have lots of ideas and plans for the rest of the year. We will continue to bring interesting speakers to Israel Congregation, holidays like Purim and Passover will be celebrated with great enthusiasm, and classes in science, literature, and the bible are already being planned for the summer. I urge you to take advantage of some of these activities. They are here for you! Shalom, Marlene Skulnik Help Us Acknowledge Your Donations I srael Congregation is thankful to its members for their continued support of all our various funds. Many donations are made in honor or in memory of an occasion or of someone. Our practice is not only to acknowledge the donor with a thank you card but also to notify the honored one that a donation has been made in their name. We cannot do that unless you include their full contact information. If the people honored are Israel Congregation members, please note that so the office administrator will know their address is in our records. For all others, please provide the pertinent names and addresses and reason for the contribution when you or snail mail your donations, even if you think we have them in our records. Only in this way can we ensure that your family and friends are made aware that you have honored or remembered them through your generosity to Israel Congregation. Many Thanks I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their generous contributions to the Manchester Food Cupboard and to the Rabbiʹs Discretionary Fund in honor of my 45th birthday. I was delighted to celebrate it with the community. Speedy Recovery to Mazel Tov! Carole Tannen Todah rabah, Rabbi Novak David & Marlene Skulnik on the birth of their grandson Samuel William Gelfman Liandra Aptekar on her acceptance by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Campus

3 24 Shvat - 23 Adar/February 2008 Page 3 CENTER OF LEARNING Celebrating Israel at Sixty Israel Congregation continues its commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel. Choose to come to all or a few of Israel Congregation s array of offerings that is sure to have something for everybody. Tuesday Evening Classes Book Club February 5: Exploring the Dead Sea Scrolls. Join Dr. Paul Ross in a roundtable seminar as he explores the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr. Ross will be using The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Geza Vermes, although any translation (even internet) will suffice. 7 pm February 26: Four Events that Changed Israel from the Inside. There are four events considered seminal by Israelis that changed the development of the young country. They are: the Yom Kippur War, Menachem Beginʹs election ending the rule of the Labor Party, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. In this lecture, Yuval Sela will explore how each of these, each in its own way, changed and continues to shape Israeli society today. 7 pm February 19: Someone to Run With, by David Grossman, is the most popular work to date from ʺa writer who has been, for nearly two decades, one of the most original and talented... anywhereʺ (The New York Times Book Review), a bestseller hailed by the Israeli press for its mixture of fairy tale magic, emotional sensitivity, and gritty realism. 7 pm Film February 12: Excerpts from Pillar of Fire, a television history of Israelʹs rebirth, produced for Israel Television. We will watch a selection of the film: The Jew Returns the Arab Awakens and/or The Dream. 7 pm Library Book Notes A PIGEON AND A BOY By Meir Shalev H ailed as Israel s most celebrated novelist, Meir Shalev has written a moving story of the search for home in this, his sixth novel. As one critic wrote, All the characters and their families are linked, homing pigeons make their nests, and the characters whose lives come together all have homing stories as well. Magical realism works beautifully in this powerfully suffused novel of love, loss, and the need for home. This novel was the Israel Congregation Book Club January choice. It has won Israel s Brenner Prize as well as a starred review in Publishers Weekly as follows: In this stunning tale, Shalev masterfully interweaves two remarkable personal stories. Yair Mendelsohn, a middle aged Israeli tour guide favored with bird watchers, learns that one of his new American clients fought in the Palmach, a clandestine military force in Israel s 1948 war of independence. The American recounts a day when a homing pigeon handler, nicknamed the Baby for his childlike features, was killed in that war and, in his final moments, sent off one last pigeon. Yair is familiar with the American s story and listens with wistfulness. As Yair slowly tells of his present and past, Shalev patiently builds tension around the Baby s final dispatch, giving vivid detail on homing pigeons and conveying the unique relationship between the birds and their keepers which echoes the touching care with which the Baby and his true love, the Girl, treat one another.... This gem of a story about the power of love brims with luminous originality.

4 Page 4 the Shofar kids korner Religious School Shabbat I tʹs February, which means there are 28 days ahead strike that, 29 days ahead. What better way to celebrate Leap Year than by having a Religious School Shabbat at Israel Congregation. That is just what we are doing. On Friday evening, February 29, at 6:30 p.m. our wonderful students in the religious school will be participating in every aspect of our Friday night worship. Our youngest students will read prayers and sing for us; our older students will lead the regular parts of the Friday evening liturgy. After the worship, all students, families, congregants are invited to join us for our ever famous Shabbat evening dinner. Happy Birthday to Religious School Students... Abigail Marmer, February 5 Elijah Brown, February 23 Emmet Koffman, February 25 Considering a Jewish Summer Camp? C ome meet Kathy Jonas, the director of Camp JCC Maccabi in Kingston, Maine! Kathy will be at Israel Congregation Sunday, February 6, 11 a.m. for a meet and greet to talk about camp along with some bagels and nosh for this upcoming summer. You can learn more about the camp at This camp has sessions for children in grades three through eleven and is a pluralistic/non denominational complement to the wonderful Jewish summer camp movement. Brochures are available in the front vestibule of the synagogue. Teen Event a Roaring Success T eens from Manchester, Bennington and Rutland came together at Israel Congregation for a night of sushi making and relationship building. Almost 25 teens ranging in age from gathered in our social hall as our new Teen Initiative Director Lori Gross, a senior at Bennington College, welcomed everyone and led an icebreaking event. It was then back to the kitchen where seaweed, imitation (and 100% kosher) crab, tuna, salmon, and other goodies were turned into real sushi. People broke up into different functions there were peelers, ingredient makers, and rollers. Given the large turnout, we supplemented the food with four large pizzas. Bennington s Rabbi Joshua Boettiger led the students in a bʹrcha and then it was on to the main event eating. The evening was a great success as the sushi and pizza were consumed, new relationships with other Jewish teens from the greater region were formed. The Teen Initiative is a joint project with Beth El of Bennington and Beth Israel of North Adams.

5 24 Shvat - 23 Adar/February 2008 Board Openings lections for the Board of Directors E are coming up soon. Anyone interested in serving on the board, or learning more, please call Marlene Skulnik at Stratton Dinner continued from pg. 1 One of the many reasons Israel Congregation is a unique (and great) community is that we draw from near and far. Within our own neck of the woods, we have the folks who live down in Manchester and those who live up and around Stratton Mountain. I value each and every member and I want people to know that no matter their geography, the congregation cares about them and wants to involve them. By having a friend raiser at the Glazerʹs we have found (we hope) an enjoyable way to spend an evening to get to know, or reintroduce each other. Itʹs also your chance to ask me questions in an informal session or offer requests about what Israel Congregation can do at Stratton, and to build on past efforts that have been made by our Israel Congregation members in the Stratton area. I hope, as do others, that Israel Congregation will be able to bring some of our worship and programming opportunities to the Stratton area in the not too distant future. So please take out your calendars and write in pen: February 23, 6:30 p.m., home of Irene and Ed Glazer. Youʹll get the directions when you RSVP to them by telephone ( ). They, and I, look forward to welcoming you as Israel Congregation comes to Stratton. Rabbi David Novak Page 5 February Calendar Of Events February 1 February 2 February 4 February 5 February 6 February 7 February 8 February 9 February 11 February 12 February 13 February 14 February 15 February 16 February 18 February 19 February 20 February 21 February 22 February 23 February 25 February 26 February 27 February 28 February 29 Friday Evening Shabbat Service, 6:30 pm followed by our Community Dinner Saturday Morning Shabbat Service, 9:30 am Parashat Mishpatim Conversational Hebrew, 7:15 9:00 pm Center for Learning: Dead Sea Scrolls, 7:00 8:00 pm Religious School, 3:50 pm Cooking with Yuval, 6:00 pm Friday Evening Shabbat Service, 6:30 pm followed by our Community Dinner Saturday Morning Shabbat Service, 9:30 am Parashat Terumah Conversational Hebrew, 7:15 9:00 pm 60: Documentary Pillar of Fire, 7:00 pm Religious School, 3:50 pm Cooking with Yuval, 6:00 pm Friday Evening Shabbat Service, 6:30 pm followed by our Community Dinner. Saturday Morning Shabbat Service, 9:30 am Parashat Tetzaveh Conversational Hebrew, 7:15 9:00 pm Book Club, Someone to Run With by David Grossman, 7:00 8:30 pm Religious School, 3:50 pm Board Meeting, 7:00 pm Friday Evening Shabbat Service, 6:30 pm followed by our Community Dinner Saturday Morning Shabbat Service, 9:30 am Parashat Ki Tisa Dinner at the home of Irene and Ed Glazer, Stratton Mountain, 6:30 pm Conversational Hebrew, 7:15 9:00 pm 60: Four Events that Changed Israel from the Inside, 7:00 8:30pm Religious School, 3:50 pm Cooking with Yuval, 6:00 pm Religious School Shabbat Service, 6:30 pm followed by our Community Dinner. Cooking Classes Thursday Evenings; Register by Wednesday There is a $10 charge per person. Reservations made but not cancelled will be charged.

6 Page 6 the Shofar Ma aser Sheni he Torah required three tithes of the Israelites. The first, Ma asher Rishon, was given to the Temple priests. The T second, Ma aser Sheni, supported the general community, benefiting both giver and receiver. The third, Ma aser Shlishi, provided funds for the poor. Our congregants participate in the mitzvah of Ma aser Sheni by contributing to funds that benefit the synagogue and its members. Thank you for your donations! GENERAL FUND Frances & Mark Aronowitz in memory of Etta Rein Arthur Aronowitz in honor of Sandra Caselbaum s birthday Gary Berlin, in memory of Margrit Berlin Norma Colin & Fred Polsky Barbara & Richard Feingold in memory of Tess, Robert and Milton Feingold Sally & Robert Freedman Phyllis & Stephen Gottdiener Marion & Justin Mueller in memory of Daniel Cole Elaine & Paul Ross in honor of David & Marlene Skulnik s new grandson Samuel William Herbert Sackett in memory of Evelyn Sackett Nancy & Larry Steinberg in memory of Sally Phillips, David Rimmel, Lilliam Steinberg & Joel Steinberg Elsa Daspin & Michael Suisman in memory of Jeannette Daspin Carole & Dick Tannen Elaine Hayles in honor of the birth of Loretta & Stan Reisman s granddaughter & in honor of Shirah Cohen s Bat Mitzvah Doris & Sy Aptekar in memory of Daniel Cole, in honor of Liandra Aptekar, and in honor of Jordanne s upcoming wedding to Peter SHABBAT DINNER FUND Sandra & Martin Castelbaum in memory of Bernard Weinberger & Anna Alpart Ruth & Stanley Gilbert Catherine & Saul Kimmel in honor of Sandy Castelbaum s birthday TIKKUN OLAM Catherine & Saul Kimmel in honor of Carole Tannen s birthday Micki & Stan Lisman ADULT EDUCATION FUND Elaine & Paul Ross in honor of Clara Koffman s 93rd birthday HOROWITZ CHILDRENS EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT FUND Micki & Bob Horowitz in memory of Herman Kaplan and Ida Horowitz GOLDSMITH PRAYBOOK FUND Janet & Herb Millman in memory of Anna Alpart RABBI S DISCRETIONARY FUND Lil & Evan Ginsberg Phyllis & Steve Gottdiener Catherine & Saul Kimmel in honor of Rabbi Novak s birthday Marion & Justin Mueller in honor of Rabbi Novak s birthday Loretta & Stan Reisman in honor of Rabbi Novak s birthday Ina & Al Rubin in honor of Rabbi Novak s Birthday PETER JANNKE BUILDING MAINTENANCE FUND Cheryl Ullman Condolences to Sallyann Wekstein and family for the passing of Walter, beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother Special Thanks to... Dina Bronson for leading the Tu b Shvat seder and preparing a fabulous dinner topped off with her maple carob cake

7 Page 7 the Shofar O ur newsletter goes to more than 400 households in eight states! You can place ads of any size, from business cards to whole pages. For rates, contact the office at The Tree of Life on the wall in our Social Hall is adorned with leaves that commemorate events in the lives of our congregants. To inscribe your family event or Simcha call the office

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9 srael Congregation has about 230 member I families of diverse Jewish backgrounds, both full time and part time residents of southern Vermont. We provide weekly Shabbat and holiday services, a religious school, adult education, life cycle events, and cultural and social programming, in a warm and welcoming environment. An integral part of Jewish life in the Northshire for more than 70 years, Israel Congregation has been at its current location on Rte 7A, 1.2 miles north of Rte 11/30, since Kabbalat Shabbat Service: 6:30 pm, Friday (followed by Congregational Dinner) Shabbat Service: 9:30 am, Saturday Religious School: 4 to 6 pm, Wednesday Office Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, M F Telephone: David Novak, Rabbi Michael Cohen, Rabbi Emeritus Susan Ainsworth, Office Administrator Board of Directors Marlene Skulnik, President Arnold Katz, Vice President Barry Brown, Vice President Stuart Revo, Treasurer Doris Bass, Corresponding Secretary Louis Propp, Recording Secretary Marisa Eisemann, Immediate Past President Directors: Morty Bunis, Michael Dreiblatt, Jeremy Dworkin, Phyllis Gottdiener, Bob Horowitz, Sandra Koffman, Stan Lisman, Gary Marmer, Paul Ross, John Sobel, Jodi Stark Shofar Editorial Board: Doris Bass, Karen Dreiblatt, Marlene Skulnik, Laurie Sullivan, Cheryl Ullman PO Box 1050 Manchester Center, Vermont