Etz Chayim Conservative Synagogue s Monthly Newsletter OCTOBER, 2015 TISHREI/CHESHVAN, 5776

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1 Etz Chayim Conservative Synagogue s Monthly Newsletter OCTOBER, 2015 TISHREI/CHESHVAN, 5776 Friday evening services begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday morning services begin at 9:30 a.m. FROM RABBI STEPHEN LISTFIELD WHO KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN? The lead story in the New York Times reported the following: 'You ve got a set of unintended consequences that weren t planned for,' said Richard F. Hohlt, a Republican donor and Washington lobbyist [Party Rules to Streamline Race May Backfire for G.O.P., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015]. I imagine that we can all relate to this woe. After all, there are a lot of unintended consequences going around that weren t planned for. Why, it could be that none of them were planned for. Could be that this is why those consequences were unintended! Whatever Mr. Hohlt meant by his comment, I think he s onto something. Maybe I m simply more aware of this as the years go by, but it seems to me that a lot of people don t plan very much for the future. Money is tight, and so despite that no, because of that it is prudent to reasonably plan for your economic stability. The human lifespan has increased dramatically. Therefore it behooves us to maintain our minds and our bodies precisely because we are living longer and we want to be ready for the inevitable challenges. I don t think that any of us intend for our children or grandchildren to stray from the path of Judaism. But we live in a world where the lure of total assimilation is great. I consider it a good idea to model our Jewish faith early and often, before we find ourselves faced with consequences that were unintended. In Ethics of the Fathers 2:10 we learn from Rabbi Simeon that a person would do well if he or she foresees the consequences of his actions (Hebrew: ro eh et ha-nolad). Of course we can t know the future. I d love to know now whether President Obama s nuclear deal with Iran is going to work out for us or not. We don t know and we are justifiably anxious. But surely there are many areas in which we can prepare. Surely we realize that the intended can happen and the unintended can happen. It s solid Jewish wisdom to ro eh et hanolad. We can only live in the present. But we can also plan for the future. Sincerely, Stephen Listfield

2 MEN S CLUB, ETC. Next meeting: October 27, Tuesday, 7:30 PM at the Synagogue. Enjoy 2 hours of fun, food, and fellowship. IMS: Deliveries made bi-weekly to Food Pantry and First Stop. Please leave food products or personal hygiene items in the entryway of the Synagogue. Your support is greatly needed and appreciated. Simcha and Memorial Plaques: $50.00 and $75.00 respectively. Please contact Joe Sacks for further information at Autumn is in the air...enjoy it...joe SISTERHOOD Greetings! I hope everyone has a great New Year. To begin, Sisterhood would like to thank BJ and Bill Brigadier for generously sponsoring the Break the Fast we enjoyed after Yom Kippur services. Shirley Roberts and her crew of helpers prepared and served the lovely meal we shared together. Thank you for all the planning and work done to provide it. Please be reminded that Sisterhood has two events coming up quickly. October 1st is the deadline for our final count for the Ghost Trolley Tour, and spaces (24 seats) on the trolley are filling up. We re welcoming all ladies, as usual, as well as couples for this event. On October 17th, we ll leave from Harrison Bothers on 124 South Side Square at 6 PM, promptly. Tickets are $12 per person. October 22nd is the Worldwide Challah Bake, during which women all over the world will bake challah in honor of our tradition. We ll meet at our synagogue to participate in this big event. In order to purchase supplies for the challah baking, we need your RSVP. I am sure a great time will be had by all who attend. Please make your reservations for both events soon by calling or texting me. Our New Year Greeting and Memorial Booklet fundraiser is, once again, a successful project. Thanks to all of you who help us each year by joining our effort. Please be sure to mention seeing their advertisements in our booklet when you frequent our supporter s businesses. Each entry and each ad is important to us. Summer is over, and we hope you ll join Sisterhood for the coming year. While we didn t host a membership event this year, we still want to remind you it s time to renew (or join if you haven t) your membership. It s only $18 to support our projects: some synagogue refurbishments, Rabbi Luncheons throughout the year, Purim Hot Dog Supper, Latke Party, Community Seder, International Baking Day, High Holiday flowers, and more. If you have ideas and/or suggestions, we re interested in hearing them. I would like to take a personal moment to thank everyone who went shopping for me, picked up prescriptions, brought my car (as well as me) back from the emergency room, brought me lunches and dinners, and called every day that I was recently laid up to ask what I needed. It was very much appreciated and I will remember your thoughtfulness. I feel very touched that so many people cared. Our synagogue and the people who make up our congregation are very special. I see them stepping up when they are needed, year after year. Thank you again. Please call me or send text reservations for our upcoming events. Sandra Wiederecht,

3 FROM BBYO We started off this BBYO year with a wellattended Bar-b-que Election Dinner. No one was roasted, just elected. Congratulations to the new board: Jiji Plotka-N siah Mckenzie Sanders-Sgan Jessica Banks-Mit Mom Jonah Weinberger-Mazkir Ethan Smyth-Shlicha Mathew Lapidus-Mazkir Let s give a warm welcome to a new face joining Rocket City, Gillian Keenan of Nashville, TN. It was also great to see all the ninth graders joining us for the first time. WELCOME. Regional events: New Member weekend, October Regional Convention, December Kallah with Southern Region, April Local events: Stay tuned for dates of all this year s local programming coming soon!! Shoshanna Rosenthal, your grateful BBYO advisor ShoshannaArt@yahoo.com ONEGS DONATIONS BBYO Fund From: Janet Schindler To: Judy & Paul Kunitz - In Loving Memory of your daughter, Heidi Kunitz From: Millie & Max Rosenthal To: Judy & Paul Kunitz - In Memory of your daughter, Heidi Kunitz. Our thoughts are with you. From: Diana & Howard Polin To: Judy & Paul Kunitz - In Loving Memory of your precious daughter, Heidi Kunitz From: Harriet & Joe Sacks To: Judy & Paul Kunitz - In Memory of your daughter, Heidi Kunitz From: Shirley & Ted Roberts To: Judy & Paul Kunitz In Loving Memory of your daughter, Heidi Kunitz From: Shirley & Ted Roberts To: Ed Gollop - Glad that you are on the mend, continued good health. From: Diana & Howard Polin To: Ed Gollop - Glad you are getting better, we wish you continued good health. From: Harriet & Joe Sacks To: Ed Gollop Happy to hear you are on the mend Oct 02 Oct 09 Oct 16 Oct 23 Oct 30 Lapidus Kolchin Sacks Sidel-Miller Hall From: Millie & Max Rosenthal To: Ed Gollop - Glad that you are on the mend, continued good health. From: Harriet & Joe Sacks To: Ted Roberts- Hope you are feeling better, have a Good and Healthy New Year. To: Susan Levitt - A Good and Healthy New Year to you, hope you are feeling better.

4 Rabbi Fund From: Janet Schindler In Honor of the High Holidays From: Michal & Gary Hall General Fund From: Natha & Scott Hancock From: Rosa Schindler In Loving Memory of my father, Morrie Schindler. He loved being part of the synagogue. A Happy and Healthy New Year to all. Outdoor Lighting Fund In Memory of Gertrude and Perry Schlein from their daughters Natha Hancock and Robin Slomka and their families. With Gratitude to Hashem We request the honor of your presence to Dance with us at our Marriage Yiska Moriah Berry (Christina Lynn Berry) and Ze ev Ya acov Berry (Richard James Berry) Sunday, the First Day of November Two Thousand and Fifteen B deken at 9:45 AM Chuppah at 10:00 AM Etz Chayim Synagogue 7705 Bailey Cove Road Huntsville, Alabama Champagne Brunch Follows (Don t Forget the Time Change: Fall Back) SCHEDULE FOR SUKKOT, SHEMINI ATZERET AND SIMCHAT TORAH On Sep 27, at 2 PM, we will join to build and decorate our Sukkah. We need volunteers, and we hope you ll bring power and/or hand tools to help out! Sukkot: Sep 28-Oct 2 EC will hold 9:30 AM services in the sukkah followed by Kiddush Sep 28, 29: Welcome to the sukkah at 5:30 PM to use the lulav & etrog and a Kiddush Sep 30: EC welcomes you at 5:30 PM to use the lulav and etrog, bring a light dairy pot luck Kiddush and from 6:30-8:00 PM go inside to view the Israeli comedy Ushpin, a movie about Sukkot Oct 5: EC will have 9:30 AM Shemini Atzeret services, with Yizkor at about 10:30 AM, followed by a final Kiddush in the sukkah for Later that day, at 5:30 PM, we invite you to bring a dairy Pot Luck Dinner to share for Simchat Torah, then celebrate Simchat Torah at 6:30 with a parade-- light sticks, flags and Torahs! BEGINNING HEBREW CLASS Etz Chayim Synagogue will again offer a Class in Hebrew Reading for Beginners - Sponsored by the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP). The first class in this Hebrew I Course will meet on Wednesday, October 21 at 7:00 PM at Etz Chayim Synagogue, 7705 Bailey Cove Road SE, Huntsville, AL. Classes will meet weekly for 1.5 hours and the course will finish in December. There

5 will be a nominal $20 donation to cover the cost of providing class materials. No prior knowledge of Hebrew is required to take this course. Please call ( ) or Bill Goldberg zevgold@yahoo.com to register. Your registration by October 12 will be greatly appreciated. You can find out more about the beginning Hebrew Crash Course at or contact me. Regards, Bill Goldberg UPCOMING EVENTS Sep 27 Sep 28, 29 Sep 30 Sep 30-Oct 2 Oct 1 Oct 5 Oct 5 Oct 17 Oct 21 Oct 22 Oct Build & decorate the Sukkah, 2 PM 9:30 AM Sukkot service, Kiddush 5:30 PM lulav & etrog, Kiddush 5:30 PM lulav & etrog, Bring light pot luck for Kiddush, 6:30 PM Israeli movie, Ushpin 9:30 AM services & Kiddush Deadline for Ghost Trolley Tour reservations 9:30 AM Shemini Atzeret services, Yizkor, Kiddush 5:30 PM, Dairy Pot Luck Dinner 6:30 PM, Simchat Torah celebration Sisterhood Ghost Trolley Tour, 6 PM prompt at Harrison Brothers First Beginning Hebrew class, 7 PM at EC Worldwide Challah Baking Event BBYO New Member Oct 27 ANNIVERSARIES Oct 09 Oct 09 Oct 27 BIRTHDAYS Oct 02 Oct 03 Oct 03 Oct 10 Oct 10 Oct 12 Oct 13 Oct 14 Oct 16 Oct 20 Oct 21 Oct 21 Oct 23 Oct 23 YARZHEITS Weekend Men s Club, 7:30 PM Nannette & Gary Schwartz Susan & Larry Levitt Millie & Max Rosenthal David Wiederecht Zev Roberts Marc Zelickson Leigh Sidel-Miller Sheri Bulgatz Renate Stone Max Rosenthal David Rosenthal Jonah Roberts Marvin Kalachman Ethan Hall Frederick Kolchin Paulette Goldstein Marla Polin Oct Tishrei Randy Sacks* Oct Tishrei Alex Greenbaum Oct Tishrei Mariam Wertheim Oct Tishrei Louis Klazmer Oct Tishrei Steve Sokolow Oct Tishrei Bella Flank* Oct Tishrei Leo Krell Oct Tishrei Rose Natt* Oct Tishrei Harold Pizitz Oct Tishrei Irvin Shelman Oct Cheshvan Adele Krigelman Oct Cheshvan Sarah Golstein* Oct Cheshvan Sara Osovsky* Oct Cheshvan Ruth Harris

6 Oct Cheshvan Martin Goldner* Oct Cheshvan Herschel Tzvi Rabinovich Oct Cheshvan Pauline Rudoy* Oct Cheshvan Pierre Secher* Nov Cheshvan Abe Soble* Nov Cheshvan Elise Margaret Hoehne * Plaque **Light Memorial candle at sunset of the previous evening A SIMCHAS TORAH LEGEND by Ted Roberts On Simchas Torah it s entirely appropriate to ask a basic question that our sages, throughout the ages, have ignored. Why did The Almighty wait so long to hand us the Book of Books - the Torah? There s a legend - not quite at the Midrashic level - just a legend told by kibitzers sitting around the JCC pool that explains the delay. The angels, says the story, cast a unanimous vote for the Almighty to lay the Torah at the foot of the Tree of Knowledge that first week in Eden. They suggested that he prop it up against the trunk, so the world s first newlyweds, dizzy with the world s first love affair, couldn t miss it. They were wary of man. He s dangerous, they advised the Creator. At first, he ll use a stick to walk with. Next, he ll use it to knock fruit out of the trees. Then, he ll sharpen one end of it and throw it at his fellow creatures. You have made him with the reproductive glands of the desert hare, the ferocity of the tiger, and the acquisitiveness of the honeybee. But the hare is gentle, the tiger is lazy, and the honeybee is small. They will never desecrate your creation. But man is different. He needs restraints. He needs Torah now. The Lord replied, Humanity is not programmed like the animals. I have given this breed a soul, and I ve given them the blessing and curse of free will. We shall see what we shall see. And the Lord looked down on the paradise He had built on earth. And He saw the incredible variation of plants and creatures. And He saw Adam and Eve, the newlyweds, as gentle as the fruit-eating orangutans. So the Lord rested. The angels chattered among themselves like the blue jays in the garden. He shouldn t have rested before He made Torah. Yeah, said one little fellow with still fluffy wings. Wait ll He gets a load of Cain. The next day - a day of heaven is many generations on earth, you know - the Lord inspected His universe. He saw the first act of disobedience in the Garden, and He saw Cain s murderous rage. He saw the generations who displayed all the faults of the desert hare and the honeybee with none of their virtues. The earth was corrupt in his sight, as he was later to note in Genesis Chapter 5, verse 11. So He sent the flood. That ll do it, He predicted to the angels. Such power will make man fear me. They will flock to me like the gentle dove. Just watch their improvement. They need the Torah, mumbled the angelic court. No, He said. Then came the generations of the Patriarchs; G-d fearing men, but imperfect. With hesitancy and a sigh, the Master Builder of the universe peeped between His fingers again at the strange animal with a soul, called man. Just in time to see the

7 sons of Jacob betray their father and their brother Joseph. Now! said the angels. No, said the Lord. Did I not make them in My likeness? And unlike the animals, did I not give them freedom - even unto sin? Soon, the descendants of Abraham were slaves in Egypt and their wailing drifted up to heaven itself and the ears of their Creator. Ah, another opportunity to demonstrate My power to this unruly species, He thought. Therefore He delivered his people from the whips and clubs of the Egyptians. Later, He was to tell the whole story in Exodus. As I said before, it s only a legend and a legend has nowhere near the authenticity of a Midrash. Ask your Rabbi. But if he laughs at your legend, ask him for HIS explanation. Ted Roberts, The Scribbler on the Roof, is a syndicated Jewish columnist and longtime member of our Synagogue. Buy Ted s collected works at Amazon.com or the Sisterhood Gift Shop. Ted welcomes your comment and/or critique and can be ed at: shirlr@hiwaay.net Scribbler on the Roof te11d@hiwaay.net Website: Blogsite: Buy Ted's collected works at Strengthened by His might, they strode out of Egypt as free men, but no sooner had they struck off their chains than they assumed the characteristics of the lustful hare, the savage tiger, and the acquisitive honeybee. The Lord threw up His hands in despair. They need a rule book, He announced to the heavenly hosts, who without exultation modestly nodded. They need limits on their freedom like the planets need an orbit - like the river needs a bank. And the Lord G-d took the ex-slaves to Sinai where He spoke face-to-face to Moses and gave him the Torah like a father gives a son a prayer book on his Bar Mitzvah day. The slaves were now accountable, even as you and I.

Etz Chayim Conservative Synagogue s Monthly Newsletter SEPTEMBER, 2015 ELUL/TISHREI, 5775

http://www.etzchayim-hsv.org/ Etz Chayim Conservative Synagogue s Monthly Newsletter SEPTEMBER, 2015 ELUL/TISHREI, 5775 Friday evening services begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday morning services begin at 9:30