The Shofar s Voice B nai Israel. Veteran s Day Dinner B N A I I S R A E L S Y N A G O G U E P E N S A C O L A, F L.

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1 B N A I I S R A E L S Y N A G O G U E P E N S A C O L A, F L The Shofar s Voice K I S L E V T E V E T D E C E M B E R I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : 2015 B nai Israel Rabbi s Message President s Message 2 3 Veteran s Day Dinner Shlicha 4 Religious School News 5 Donations 8 Birthdays 9 Yahrtzeits 9 Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Swartz More photos from the B nai Israel Veteran s Day Dinner on page 7 1

2 RABBI S MESSAGE RABBI ISRAEL VANA Chanukah - Our Beacon for Dedication Chanukah Chanukah. Chag yafeh kol kach. Chanukah is a beautiful Holiday. Why? What is so beautiful about Chanukah? Let us review our history. Without knowing the past we cannot say it is a wonderful holyday. So let us dwell into the past. Time machine. It was before USA independence. Before Columbus. Before the Crusaders. Before England became a nation. Backwards Rabbi, more. Before the fall of the Roman. Before Islam. Before Christianity was born. Wow, that was really old. Actually, 265 years before Christianity was born. Rabbi that was really long time ago. Let s see what happened. Alexander the Great conquered Israel from the Iranians. He was a benevolent conqueror. We were allowed to practice Judaism as we wished. Once he passed away his predecessors were not so kind. They did not allow us to practice Judaism the way we practiced for 1500 years. They defiled our temple, disallow us to worship our way. They placed idols around the 2 country, and forced us to worship idols. They offered a pig in the temple and defiled the menorah. That continued for more than 80 years. Just as it looked hopeless, the Macabbes rose up, and with the help of G-d, they changed history. They drove the Greek out of Israel, restored the temple, rekindled the menorah, and restored the pride and Jewish independence. A great miracle happened there in the temple. A small jar of oil, one day s portion, lasted for eight days. From then on, the dedication of our life to G-d and Jewish causes was established. Chanukah became the beacon for dedication - for us, and the rest of the world. On Hanukkah rededicate your life to G-d and Judaism, our community and humankind. Chag sameach, see you in shul. Rabbi Vana

3 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE VIKKI GOLDSTEIN, SYNAGOGUE PRESIDENT B nai Israel Gift Shop December 50% off EVERTHING Sale! Open Sundays during religious school AND during weekly office hours. 3 Thanksgiving through Chanukah November we celebrated Thanksgiving and wish to thank Rabbi Vana for preparing a Thanksgiving feast at the Shul for several families! December begins the second year of your executive board's term and the addition of some new board members. I am very happy with our board and the representation of each generation! We are looking forward to continued progress as we renovate and improve. Our HVAC system demolition/installation will start this month. Then the kitchen upgrade will begin, so please be patient during this process. Benjamin and Kate Lollar, our new Sisterhood President, have some fun and creative ideas for social functions as soon as our renovations are complete. Rabbi Vana is planning for some adult education classes and we have Tal teaching conversational Hebrew on Wednesday evenings. B'nai has a lot to be thankful for and excited to see what this year will bring. Be sure to follow us on Facebook. It has been very special watching Maytal Baurberg study and practice each Sabbath with Rabbi Vana. We are especially looking forward to celebrating her Bat Mitzvah this month! Wishing you all a joyous Chanukah! See you in the Shul! Vikki

4 FROM OUR SHLICHA TAL ITZHAKOV Dear Community, I can't believe I am here almost three months! I already know Starbucks, Marshalls and the best beach I can find in the USA, so I guess I am not a "new shlicha" anymore. Last month we commemorated "Yitzhak Rabin" and supported the idea of Israel being a democratic state. We also explored together Israel's cultural diversity and enjoyed these celebrations of colors, languages, music and art. Our next Café Israel will be on December 14th. If you have any suggestions for a theme you would like to discuss, please let me know! I want you to know that I really appreciate that you come to these events! It gives me so much motivation and satisfaction! Be sure that I am learning from you even more than what I teach! In these days we are trying to create a youth group of all the community. I really believe that these kids are our future! I cannot wait to start! We are planning a cultural event on December 28th for you. Please look for further information about it. Feel free to contact me and invite me to meet you. I want to get to know as many families as I can and to be involved in your life. Have a wonderful month, full of smiles and joy! Yours, Tal 4 B nai Israel and Temple Beth El Youth Group PJF & PJ Library Invite you and your family to a Hanukkah Celebration! Sunday, December 6, :00-3:00pm WF Public Library 932 Spring Street Pensacola, Fl For more information, p lease contact Cafe Israel Please join us for an interesting discussion about Israel with Tal, our shlicha! Time: Monday, December 14 th at 6pm Place: Cactus Flower Cafe N 12th Ave, Pensacola 3293 Chai Discussion Group Time: December 15th, 12 noon Place: to be announced

5 RELIGIOUS SCHOOL NEWS VIKKI GOLDSTEIN, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION We have had a great first half of the religious school year having fun learning! December will be the last month we will have Tal with us each Sunday; but she has initiated youth group activities that will involve the older children throughout the year! We are very excited to see the youth of BNI and TBE back together! They will also be joining together to visit some of our elderly in the community to celebrate Chanukah. community and be able to share our Jewish holiday! Arielle, our ISJL fellow will be here the weekend of December so look for more fun opportunities to be announced! Happy Chanukah!! Benjamin has arranged for our religious school to participate in a Chanukah Program at Cokesbury Methodist Church on December 6th. We are excited to be involved with the 5

6 B nai Israel Religious School 6

7 2015 B nai Israel Veteran s Dinner Thank You to Our Vets!! 7

8 Donations for December Rabbi's Discretionary Fund: Delores Livingston Mark & Joan Robinson General Fund: Keith Stimmell To B'nai Israel: A pen and ink drawing titled Betrothed. Artist name illegible. Given by Carolyn Tokson YAHRTZEITS If you would like the office to send the Yahrtzeit by of your loved ones, please let the office know, and it will be sent to you as the Yahrtzeit approaches. This was a suggestion by a distinguished congregant and thought this idea would be nice to share with all. Please see the donation form on page 13 to make a contribution to B nai Israel Synagogue. Thank You!!! 8

9 Kislev/Tevet December 2015 YAHRZEITS BIRTHDAYS Kislev / December 19 1 Clara Goldstein 21 3 Sidney Kaiman 23 5 Max Gelfand Tevet / December 1 13 Shirley Asch 2 14 Anne Ethel Goldman 4 16 Sarah Rabinowitz 6 18 Al Kahn Mima Benchetrit Isaac Goodman Bella Asch Ida Soclof Rebecca Snyder Irvin Kramer 1st Leah Annie Davies Cyprus 2nd Avi Baurberg 4th Joshua Davies 8th Joel Beck 10th Dee Shemaria 12th Evelyn Goodman 14th Doreen Swartz 15th Betty Davies 15th Esther Allen 16th Shelly Davies 19th Gene Rosenbaum 23rd Philip Shemaria 23rd Robert Lefkowitz ANIVERSARIES 5th Frank and Joanie Kay 6th Nathan and Myra Kahn 25th Joel and Jacqueline Beck 30th Marci and Ross Goodman 9

10 ADVERTISERS 10

11 BEARMAN INSURANCE AGENCY All types of Insurance Phyllis Bearman 7552 Navarre Pkwy, Ste 53 Navarre, FL Fax:

12 BEARMAN INSURANCE AGENCY All types of Insurance Phyllis Bearman 7552 Navarre Pkwy, Ste 53 Navarre, FL Fax:

13 Donation Form Please select where you would like your donation to go by checking the appropriate box below. General Fund Religious School Fund L Dor V Dor Fund Rabbi s Discretionary Fund Book of Remembrance Tree of Life ($125) Perpetual Care Funds Jack & Leah Rosenbaum Memorial Fund Library Fund Youth Scholarship Fund Prayer Book Fund Kiddush Fund Flower Fund Norman Willenzik Memorial Fund Men s & Women s Organizations Men s Club (make check out to Men s Club ) Sisterhood (make check out to Sisterhood ) In Memory / Honor of (circle one) Acknowledge to: Donated by: Address: City: State: Zip: Mail this form and your check to: B nai Israel P.O. Box 9002 Pensacola, FL

14 B nai Israel Synagogue B nai Israel Synagogue P.O. Box 9002 Pensacola, FL Rabbi: Israel Vana President: Vikki Goldstein Vice President: Benjamin Nettles Secretary: Rosemary Lieberman Treasurer: Richard Haller Sisterhood: Kate Lollar Men s Club: Alan Shemaria Have a story for the newsletter? submissions to The Shofar s Voice Editor, Christina Blackman, at mscmblackman@gmail.com preferably in Microsoft Office format, by the 15th of the month. 14