April 2017 RABBI S MESSAGE. CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL A Family of Families. Torah Study 11:00am Please come and join us

Transcription

1 CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL A Family of Families April 2017 CALENDAR OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES >> Friday, March 6:30 pm Saturday, April 9:00 am Friday, April 6:30 pm Saturday, April 9:00 am Friday, April 6:30 pm Saturday, April 9:00 am Friday, April 6:30 pm Saturday, April 9:00 am Friday, April 6:30 pm New Member Family Shabbat *with Dinner to follow Saturday, April 9:00 am Torah Study 11:00am Please come and join us RABBI S MESSAGE If at first you don t succeed, try, try, try again! In many ways this could be the moto of the Jewish approach to text and prayer. In a world in which we tend to want the new and the latest innovation, Judaism likes to go back to the classics and remind us of eternal truths. Even in the Reform and Conservative movements, in which we like to be creative and dynamic in our ritual practice and philosophy of Judaism, we are always rooted in the texts and prayers that have been the cornerstones of our people s lives for centuries, if not millennia. Perhaps this is why we return again and again to the same stories in the Torah and recite the same prayers at our regular prayer services we understand that we may not succeed in grasping all that that we can learn and experience of those texts in one go, or even in one lifetime. Every time we delve back into the study of our texts we are continually trying again and again to find greater depth and meaning in these great writings that are our inheritance. And one of the greatest texts to which we return again and again every year is the Haggadah of Passover, retelling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Surely, we may think we know this story. We have heard it many times. What could we possibly learn from it now after so many repeated readings? The answer of course is that no matter how many times we read it there will always be more to learn. Partly this is because the text is rich and deep and varied, full of details we may not see until we have read it many times. And partly it is because as we grow older and our lives change and we experience and read things differently. As my daughter gets older I am introducing her to many of the books, movies, and TV shows I loved as a child, and experiencing them again. As I do so I see new messages and nuances that I could never have understood as a child but do now because of the experiences I have had in my life. Every year we return to the Haggadah text and every year we are different and so our experience of the seder is different. And, of course, we return again and again to the same text of the Haggadah and the same story of the Exodus because some truths need to be told and retold until we truly get them right! Human nature is such that it is often easy to forget these lessons when we do not continually return to them to refresh our connection with our tradition. We need to hear the stories again and again to truly understand them and to truly ingrain them as part of our lives. We need to be reminded every year that we are part of a great tradition that has helped us survive and thrive as Jews for thousands of years. And we must each year remind ourselves that this great tradition began in slavery and oppression, so that we never become arrogant and entitled. It reminds us to never forget that our tradition is great because it reminds us year after to year to remember what it was like to be slaves in Egypt, to be downtrodden and thus to conduct our lives with compassion and in pursuit of justice for all. Rabbi Ilan Emanuel

2 SOCIAL ACTION COMMITTEE CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL 4402 Saratoga Blvd Telephone: Fax: Website: bethisraelcc.com Rabbis Ilan Emanuel, Rabbi Rabbi Kenneth Roseman, Rabbi Emeritus Staff Debbie Bustillo, Office Administrator Meredith Ryan, Religious School Director Leslie Green, Shabbat Dinner Coordinator The Ronald McDonald House meal that volunteers from CBI prepared and served on March 14 th, was enjoyed by approximately residents. We also left extra food for family members that were still visiting their children at the hospital, and provided plates cups and plastic-ware so the organization didn t have to deplete their supply. Being around children that are undergoing treatment with bald heads and with wires still attached to their bodies is a vivid reminder of what they and their families are going through every day. That we as a congregation were able to make one day a little easier so that exhausted and stressed-out families could relax and not have to fix a meal, seems like an important thing to provide. We will do this again. The following CBI volunteers either cooked or baked to make this Share-A-Meal Program happen: Sue Willliams, Odelia and Love Rios, Venita Crow, Dean Snider, Linda Snider, Jerri Osberg, Robin Adams, and Rikki Schmitchel. ***ANOTHER WAY TO HELP*** Please collect soda can tabs at work or home and leave them at the box under the front entry table in the CBI lobby. The cash from these tabs is used to help maintain the Ronald McDonald House. CBI Executive Board President Chris Adler First Vice President George Kopf Second Vice President Secretary Treasurer Past President Richard Hausman Leslie Levy Greg Marks Suzy Hilliard Sisterhood Representative Jerri Osberg Committee Chairs Adult Education Chair David Jacobs Cemetery Chairs Robert Adler Carl Kuehn, Gary Blum Ritual Committee Chairs Membership Committee Chair Social Action Committee Chair Dues Committee Chairs Andrew Sheinberg Jim Gold Suzy Hilliard Linda Snider Ann Engel Jim Gold Building Chair Grounds Chair Fine Arts Chair Bill Adams Rikki Schmitchel Laurie Mintz Page 2

3 WOW!!! What a marvelous Hebrew Rest Mitzvah Day Clean Up yesterday. At least members of CBI turned out to clean up the beautiful old cemetery. It was beautiful before, but after 45 of us working 4 long, hot, steamy hours, it s really MORE beautiful. Hope you had an opportunity to look at all the great pictures of the members, and guests, who came to work. I ll not point out specific folks, as all of us were Super Stars yesterday THANK YOU, THANK YOU. MANY exciting things going on at CBI.Lots of our members participating in many activities. We are preparing for Second Night Passover Seder at the Temple. Lots of chicken pulling, matzoh ball rolling, soup making, and other activities going on. We hope you have made your reservations for the dinner. If not, call today. We re near capacity. Social action committee is always active. Thanks, Linda Snider, and your great helpers, for keeping us in the forefront of mitzvah work needed in the community. The latest example is the action committee cooked dinner at Ronald McDonald house for the people staying there. Suzy Hilliard, Membership Committee, reports we have 3 families as new members. Yea for us.thanks, Suzy. Mike Hiatt is chairing the camp scholarship committee. His committee will be more active in the near future, as camp is just around the corner. We already have several applications for scholarships for various Jewish Summer Camps. Ongoing..repairs to our Temple continue. We re facing some roof, leaky windows, compressors, water heater, and other repairs. Thank you for your donation to our High Holiday 2016 appeal, we can keep our building in good working condition. Special thanks to Richard Leshin for attending our CBI Board Meeting to discuss changes in documents for trusts and endowments this year. Andy Lehrman will be joining Richard, and David Engel as Trustees of our legal documents. (Thanks to Don Feferman who has served in this capacity for many, many years). HAPPY PASSOVER TO ALL Chris Adler, President Congregation Beth Israel PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Page 3

4 Corpus Christi Community Religious School Meredith Ryan & Manuela Sela, Directors In an effort to enrich our children s religious education, Greg Marks took his class to the Islamic center for the International Food Festival this past month. We are grateful to Greg for his effort in creating a fun environment where the kids have an opportunity to learn via experience and action. In late April or early May, his class will be participating in Tacos Not Bombs; an event aimed at helping to feed those whom are homeless. Our Sunday School students are encouraged to join Mitzvah Day on April 2 nd at 2:00pm. This day of work at the Hebrew Rest Cemetery will take the place of regular Sunday School. The month of April also brings us the Passover Holiday. In a long-standing tradition, we will have a Passover Seder during Sunday School. This special Seder will take place on April 23 rd. If your child has any food allergies, please coordinate with Manuela. We will also have the opportunity to interact with our ISJL fellow, Shira on April 30 th. Shira always brings lots of fun, games and unique learning opportunities to our Religious School. I am sure that this visit will be just as fun and entertaining. Greg Marks is taking six children to Spring Fest at Greene Family Camp April 7-9 th. Manuela and I would like to take a moment to thank all our teachers for working so hard to create a fun learning environment for all our children. Their hard work and dedication is what makes this Religious School possible. If you see Daya Butler, Shayna Sands, Greg Marks, Jaron Sela, or Rabbi Emanuel, please thank them for all that they do for our congregation. Shalom, Meredith & Manuela Religious School Dates: April 2: Hebrew School 9:00-10:15 No Regular Sunday School - Hebrew Rest Cemetery Clean up 1pm April 9: Hebrew School 9:00-10:15 Sunday School 10:30-12:30 April 16: No Religious School - Passover April 23: Hebrew School 9:00-10:15 Sunday School 10:30-12:30 - Passover Seder April 30: Hebrew School 9:00-10:15 Sunday School 10:30-12:30 - Shira Visits "Home for Seder" CBI Sisterhood Second Night Passover Community Seder Tuesday, April 11, Congregation Beth Israel If you haven t gotten your reservation in yet, please call Linda Snider at Page 4

5 CBI Sisterhood News Greetings Sisterhood Members! I hope everyone has turned in their registration form for 2 nd Night Community Seder taking place Tuesday, April 11 th at 6:00 p.m. Many of our Sisterhood Members have been busy cooking and baking for this special evening with our CBI Community. We look forward to seeing everyone and breaking Matzos together!! If you haven t gotten your reservation in yet, please call Linda Snider at Last week Sisterhood had a meeting to nominate our new Board for the year. Although I ve had a wonderful 2 years as your President, it was time to allow others to lead us into the coming year. President Vice President of Func ons Mitzvah Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Passover Seder Vice President of Food Fest Recording Secretary Corresponding Secretary Financial Secretary Treasurer L DorVador Service to the Blind Parliamentarian Kick off party SISTERHOOD BOARD Manuela Sela & Odelia Rios Laura Hausman Andrea Bussey & Heather Long Norma Levens Linda Snider & Sue Williams Rikki Schmitchel, Jim Gold and Sue Williams Leslie Levy Bri any Sandbach Fifi Kieschnick Chris Kuehn Randi Emanuel Suzy Hilliard Jerri Osberg Presidents Congratulations to our new President s. It has been a great 2 years, thank you for allowing me to serve as your President. Jerri Osberg Page 5

6 NEW MEMBER FAMILY DINNER Please join us for our New Member Shabbat Friday, April 28th at 6:30 pm with Family Dinner to follow We will be honoring the following new members Sam & Betty Hill Jan Rubin Rusty Beck Rory Beck Dr. Jane Segal Sue Williams Kevin Moss Dr. Marc & Becki Chester Maddie Jake Jaron & Maneula Sela Noah Lital Sarah Loeb Vince Muscarello Dr. Ryan Peretz Miles & Mary Resnick Fifi Kieshnick Frank & Odelia Rios Love David Avraham Koby Ozias Jeff & Jenni Pollock Orli Luka Eddie & Melissa Seal Luke Jack Maggie Page 6

7 RABBI ROSEMAN S ADULT LECTURE SERIES Rabbi Roseman will offer three Sunday morning lecture discussion sessions based on ISSUES FROM OUR PRAYERS. All too o en, we repeat the words of the prayer book without really thinking about or understanding the meaning and implica ons of the sounds we are mouthing. During these hours with our Rabbi Emeritus, we ll have the opportunity to look at some of what we say or sing during services and come to grips with the intellectual and spiritual meaning of the words. Each of these sessions will begin with a social half hour at 10:00 AM, followed by the presenta on at 10:30. Guests are certainly welcome. SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 10:30 AM Let s Hear It For the Amidah We shall look at the opening two blessings of this very familiar set of prayers, that is either seven or eighteen or nineteen paragraphs long. SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 10:30 AM Who Shall Die? One of our most controversial prayers is called U netaneh Tokef, Let us declare the power of this day. We recite and sing it on Yom Kippur. Many people report that they are bothered by this prayer, so let s find out why and what we can do to make it more palatable. SUNDAY, MAY 7, 10:30 AM The Songs We Sing If there is one element of the services that moves many, it is music. We enjoy Laurie and Kim and Rabbi Emanuel s fine voice. But we especially like to join in and sing along. Do we even know what ideas we are expressing and where they come from? Do we care? Well, we should, and this illustrated lecture will help us appreciate even more four well known pieces of synagogue music: L Cha Dodi, Shalom Aleichem, Ein Keloheinu and Adon Olam. Rabbi Roseman promises not to sing (at least not too loudly), but there will be plenty of notes to soothe your savage beast. Page 7

8 Family Shabbat Dinner Shalom Y'All, Last month's Family Shabbat Dinner and Purim celebration was so much fun and I want to thank my special helpers in the kitchen, Venita, Odelia and Love, for making the preparation so much easier! From our family to yours, Happy Spring and wishing y'all a Happy & Sweet Pesach too! Speaking of Pesach, don't forget to make your reservations for CBI's 2 nd night Passover Community Sedar for April 11 th, it's not too late! Our next Family Shabbat Dinner will be on Friday, April 28 th at 6:30 pm with dinner to follow. This will be a special evening as we will be welcoming all our new members to CBI. So, let's have a record turnout and bring out our Southern Hospitality to meet our new members and welcome them into our family of families! Leslie Green Family Shabbat Dinner Coordinator clutterqueen2758@gmail.com cell: (804) Judaism 101 All You Ever Wanted to Know about Judaism! Judaism is a 4,000 year old tradition of beliefs, practices, ideas and wisdom. For all those interested in learning about Judaism, whether in order to convert to Judaism or to refresh your learning, join us on Sunday mornings starting December 4 th and continuing through the spring. We will cover everything from Jewish history and text to Jewish festivals and lifecycle, to Jewish practice and philosophy. Open to all those exploring Judaism. Sunday, April 9 & 11am in the chapel. SAVE THE DATE Musical Program and Reception honoring the memory of Andy Moore Sunday, May 21 at 3:30 p.m. at CBI Page 8

9 PERPETUAL YAHRZEITS Sabbath of April 7th *Bessie Bein *J.W. Castroll Helen Fedder *Ida Glanz *Philip Goldstein *Sadie Hirsch Ethel Horner *Jack Kaufman *Sweetie Kins Donald Lee *Jerry (Jerome) Levy *Anna Liedeker Dorothy Miller *Morris Minsky Benjamin Roosth *Mae Weil Sabbath of April 14th Frank Androski *Abe Blum *Hyman Bornstein *Harry Bornstein *William Cohan *Harold Dobrer Ben Ferrell *Bertha Franklin *Blanche Gordon *Bernard Grossman Ed Hersh *Myer Joseph *Abraham Lampert Bebe Lashinsky *Yetta Nelson *Esther Schlader *Simon Sklar *May Spitz *Minnie Trodlier *Ida Zeidman *Sheindlya Zitser Sabbath of 21st *Rosa Alexander *Betty Blum *Pearl Blum *Nettie Eisenberg *Howard Greenberg *Rachel Katz *Esther Mack *Ben Marks *Jacob Marks Henny Mosbach *Harry Postrong Sara Reingold *David Roberts Charles Schwartz *Ida Solka Sabbath of 28th *Dave Bergman *Louis Blair *Hannah Braslau *Julius Brownstein *Isabelle Davis *Melvin Davis *Sadie Finkelstein *William Frank *Eva Goltzman *Sam Goltzman *Howard Goodman *Arthur Haas *Otto Heffler *Doris Katz *Philip Levy *Rose Lieberman *Harry Maltz Edith Mange Freda Marks *Martin Nelson Rose Primack *Maurice Rednick Gershon Rosenwasser *Morris Rosenwasser *Jacob Samuels Jay Schlaikjer *Eugene Steiner *Albert Veenik *Frances Wasserman *Michal Wisznia Page 9

10 The Congregation thanks you for the following contributions Yahrzeit Donations In Memory of From Cemetery Endowment Fund In Memory of From Bert Haas Barbara & David May Malvina Newman Yetta & Marvin Leshin Louis Susser Ada Levinson Philip Lieberman Susan & Bill Martin Rosalie Jessel Roberts Julius Leshin Esther Jessel Ryan Mendeloff Louis Susser Pat & Sam J. Susser Vera Reich Kleniec Dorothy Schwartz George P. Kopf Otto Kuehn Nina Shannon Meredith & David Ryan Grace & Ceorge Kopf Chris & Carl Kuehn Hebrew Rest Cemetery Donation From Catherine & Sam L. Susser Leon Loeb Gail Loeb David S. Engel Ethel Horner Sam Horner Jack Kaufman Philip Lieberman Ruth Robinson David & Ann Engel Barbara & Thomas Dunn General Fund In Honor of From James Harris Suzy & John Hilliard Ann & David Engel on their birthdays Susan & Bill Martin Don t forget. You can remember a friend or relative with a minimum contribution of $5.00 to one of our many funds. These funds support camp scholarships, education, cemeteries, fine arts, library, & building improvements, to name a few. An acknowledgement card will be sent to the honored person or family. Please make checks payable to CBI and specify the fund. Call the CBI office with any questions. Page 10

11 April 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2 Hebrew School 9am 10:15am No Normal Sunday School Hebrew Rest Cemetery 9 Hebrew School 9am 10:15am Sunday School 10:30am 12:30pm Judaism 11am 16 No Religious School PASSOVER Judaism 11am 23 Hebrew School 9am 10:15am Sunday School 10:30am 12:30pm School Passover Seder Rabbi Roseman Lecture Series 10:30am 30 Hebrew School 9am 10:15am Sunday School 10:30am 12:30pm Shira Visits Rabbi Roseman Lecture Series 10:30am March 31 6:30 pm Light Candles at: :30 pm 10 1st Night of Passover 11 2nd night Community Seder 6pm Light Candles at: 7:33 PM :30 pm Light Candles at: 7:36 PM 6:30 pm Light Candles at: 7:40 PM :30 pm NEW MEMBER Family Dinner Light Candles at: 7:44 PM 1 9:00 am 8 9:00 am 15 9:00 am 22 9:00 am 29 9:00 am

12 CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL 4402 SARATOGA CORPUS CHRISTI, TX CBI Sisterhood Gift Shop announces its new *Judaica Exchange * Donate your previously loved and gently used Judaica, get a tax donation receipt, then come to the Gift Shop to browse and buy! To schedule alternate appointment times, please call the CBI office at (361)