Temple Beth Electronic News

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1 Temple Beth Electronic News Visit our temple website at Kislev-Tevet 5773 December 2012 Thank You s Before the actual Thank You s, we want to let Rabbi Ann know that we missed her last time and are so sorry that Super Storm Sandy interfered with her trip and her life. We hope that everything has settled back down. We understand that she had extensive tree damage at her house and one of her son's car was badly damaged by trees. We wish we could have been there to help clean up some of the mess. Thanks to everyone who joined us for our lay service and wonderful congregational dinner! Very enjoyable! And thanks to everyone who was going to host the rabbi (and all of the other associated hosts), and we appreciate everyone signing up for alternate dates. (Some additional dates have been added. See the schedule toward the end of this bulletin.) This Coming Weekend, Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8 Hanukkah begins this weekend and we are celebrating at Beth El. An early service followed by a delicious holiday meal, candle lighting, and more! We hope to see everyone there!! Service will start at 6 PM on Friday. Then we will have dinner. Randy Sirk will once again provide latkes and matzo ball soup (vegetarian). So everyone else should please bring a dish to share. This is a dairy meal. Also everyone please bring your own menorahs and candles, and we will light them all together. If you need Hanukkah candles we will have boxes available for sale at the temple. At this point Family School will be incorporated into the Friday night activities. But since Rabbi Ann was unable to come last time, this might get revised. Saturday: Adult Study (Jewish Journeys) will take place at Barb Alexander s home at 7 PM. Some Other Dates The next time Rabbi Ann joins us will be January 12 and 13, NOTE that this is a Saturday and Sunday visit not the usual Friday and Saturday. Our April and June 2013 dates have been finalized. See the schedule later in the bulletin. The May date is still to be finalized. Winter Weather In case of bad weather, the outgoing message on the Temple's answering machine will reflect any cancellation of a service. If you have a question about services taking place please call the Temple. Even if Rabbi Ann is unable to fly in, it is possible that the Worship Committee will hold a Lay Service. 1

2 Mazel Tov Special congratulations to Steven Abramsky whose poem was published in a magazine. Way to go! Please share the poem with us. Upcoming Mitzvah Opportunities Once again, Temple Beth El is working at Murphy Park on December 24 th --from 5 PM to10 PM. "Reflections in the Park" raises money for Hillcrest Family Services and is their main source of income. They're very grateful that we are able to help them on a night when many people want to see the light show, but nobody else will work. Last year we broke a record, collecting over $6,000! They have a gatehouse now, so we don't have to stand out in the cold (or rain). Contact Rebecca Gottlieb (gottlieb@uwplatt.edu) to volunteer. The Dubuque Food Pantry needs cardboard boxes. The perfect size: boxes that oranges/apples come in at the grocery store or boxes that reams of paper come in. They can also use plastic or paper grocery bags (but not small bags or the ones the newspaper comes in). Reusing boxes and bags is also environmentally friendly! At this time of year, the Food Pantry is also requesting sweet potatoes, cranberries, brownie mixes, cake mixes & canned frosting, in addition to the usual request of peanut butter and jelly. Children of Abraham Series Thank you once again to Alan Garfield for his role in organizing and implementing the ongoing "Children of Abraham" series. These are frank discussions that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The last session discussed the topic of Women and was held at Beth El. There were a record-setting number of 80 attendees, and both Cindy Pearce and Phyllis Garfield were panel members. The next session will take place on January 31, at St. Raphael Cathedral, and the topic is Moses. DACU Thanksgiving Eve Service ireporter Rebecca Gottlieb writes: You should definitely say something about the DACU Thanksgiving Eve service. It was lovely; Alan and Phyllis were both involved, and Donnie did a reading too. The "collection" from the service goes to P.I.N. (People In Need) and we can add donations by giving them to Alan Garfield (agarfield@hotmail.com), who is the P.I.N. President, or send donations directly to: Tom Stovall, PIN Treasurer, 3345 Tibey Court, Dubuque, IA Hosts Needed Please refer to the temple schedule at the end of this newsletter. There are still some opportunities available to volunteer, and Temple Beth El needs you. To host the rabbi for the weekend or to host an Adult Study (aka Jewish Journeys), contact Cindy Pearce (mikelcinkc@aol.com). To host Rabbi Ann for dinner, contact Randy Sirk (randysir@aol.com). To host an oneg, contact Fern Reinstein (threeamstamper@yahoo.com). Please take a moment to sign up you can Cindy, Randy, and Fern to let them know which dates you would like. 2

3 Yartzeits If you have names of loved ones you would like to be put on the Temple Beth El Yartzeit list, please them to Kate Scheinman Alice Goodman Hannah Katz Florence L. Moses Joseph Levenson Jean Liberg Rose Silverberg Esther Diener Israel Pochter Tony Harris Mabel Magdal Meyer Barrash Joe Feldstein Rebecca Goldstein Mollie Goldwasser Eliza Levi Morris Polse Delia Blumenthal Louis Lippman Joseph Jacob Barrash Emile Levi Emma Berngard Medow William Goldberg Michael Blumenthal Nathan Rotman Irene Slivken Esther Fruma Gordon Rose Rotman Harold Shapiro Martin Leon Abba Leifer Richard Keene Baby Levi Ida Rotman Lillian Olanosky David Urbach Dora Oller Nathan Gerson Robert Garfield Harry Render Neil Pritikin Rose Wrubel Nathan Wrubel 3

4 Service and Mitzvah Schedule for 5773 (Family School and some other events are not included on this schedule. Refer to each newsletter for times/dates.) Friday, December :00pm Hanukkah Service followed by Dinner at Temple. Saturday, December 8 7:00pm adult study dinner: Alexander; study: Alexander weekend host: Alexander Monday, December 24 REFLECTIONS IN THE PARK Saturday, January 12, 2013 (Schedule TBD) Sunday, January 13 (Schedule TBD) Dinner: Garfield; study: Garfield weekend host: Garfield Friday, February 8: This is our Purim celebration. Times and events to be finalized. Dinner host for 2/9 is TBD. Adult Study host for 2/9 TBD. Weekend host TBD. Friday, March 8...7:00pm Shabbat service Saturday, March 9 7:00pm adult study Dinner: Kruse; oneg: Dyrke dinner: Goldberg-Scheinman; study: Goldberg-Scheinman weekend host: Goldberg-Scheinman Friday, March 29 (Passover) Lay lead Congregational Seder. Details to come. Friday, April 19 7:00pm Visitors service Saturday, April 20 7:00pm adult study MAY Service Dates still to be finalized Friday, June :00pm Shabbat service Saturday, June 29 7:00pm adult study Group oneg; Dinner: TBD dinner: TBD study: TBD weekend host: TBD Dinner: TBD; oneg: TBD dinner: TBD study: TBD weekend host: TBD 4

5 From Rabbi Ann Top Ten Things You Should Know About Chanukah #10 In English there are many ways to spell Chanukah. (Hannukah, Hanukah, Chanuka, Hanukkah, Hannukkah, etc.) Hanukkah and Chanukah are the most common spellings and there is no absolutely correct spelling in English. In Hebrew it is spelled with four Hebrew letters, Cheit, Nun, Kaf, Hei. #9 Chanukah begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev and ends on the 2 nd or 3 rd day of Tevet (depending on whether Kislev has 30 or 29 days). It is the only Jewish holiday to straddle two months. #8 The earliest mention of Chanukah was in the ancient historical record of the Jewish historian Josephus from the first century. He describes an eight-day festival after the Maccabees were victorious in their war against the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes. In Josephus book the name Chanukah is not used. Instead the holiday is called The Festival of Lights. #7 The story of Chanukah is not recorded in the Hebrew Bible. It is in the books of the First and Second Maccabees, which are apocryphal texts (from the Greek hidden books - Jewish writings that were not part of the official canon of writings known as the Tanakh the Hebrew Bible). #6 The first written record of the Miracle of the Oil, where the one day supply of oil to light the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, is found in the Talmud( the Jewish text which is the basis of our modern Jewish practices and was completed around the year 500 in Babylonia). #5 The word Chanukah, in Hebrew, is derived from the word dedication. Chanukah celebrates the rededication of the Temple and the resumption of the freedom to worship as Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem. #4 Although Chanukah is a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish tradition it has become an important holiday in the United States and Israel for two very different reasons. In the United States the proximity of Chanukah and Christmas has given Chanukah special importance. Israelis have identified with the Chanukah story of a military victory in addition to the miraculous story of the oil. #3 Dreidel is a Yiddish word that comes from dreyen to turn. The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon which also comes from the Hebrew word to turn. The dreidel is a four sided top marked with the letters, nun, gimel, hei and shin (the letter pei in Israel). The letters stand for a phrase A great miracle happened there. Or in Israel A great miracle happened here. The letters also remind us of the rules of the dreidel game, if you speak Yiddish! Nun nisht (nothing) Hie halb (half) Gimmel gants (all) Shin shtel ayn (put in). [See the next page for the rules of the game.] #2 This top ten list had the same problem that Hillel and Shammai the great sages of our tradition had when deciding how to light the Chanukah menorah. The House of Hillel ( Hillel s academy) decided that we would start with one light and each successive night we would add another light. The House of Shammai thought the opposite. They started with eight candles and each successive night reduced by one. Hillel won and we now light one candle on the first night, two on the second, etc. But when it comes to top ten lists, Shammai won. We start with the tenth item and end with the first. Now what is the #1 fact we should know about Chanukah? 5

6 #1 The difference between a Hanukia (a Chanukah menorah) and a Menorah is that the Hanukia has eight candle holders and a ninth candle holder ( the shamash). The Menorah that was located at the Temple in Jerusalem had seven branches. Now above and beyond the top ten facts about Chanukah is the overarching spirit of Chanukah. A time to enjoy! Enjoy the latkes (try using heart healthy olive oil and using zucchini or sweet potatoes to make the latkes), the donuts in Hebrew sufganiyot (maybe munchkin size jelly donuts or giant sized sufganiyot- Israeli style), play dreidel with chocolate gelt (money), and display your Hanukia proudly. May the light of the candles fill your home with joy. Chanukah Sameach (Happy Chanukah) Rabbi Ann How to Play the Dreidel Game Each player begins with an equal number of game pieces (usually 10 15). The game pieces can be any object, such as chocolate gelt, pennies, or raisins. 1. At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center "pot". In addition, every time the pot is empty and sometimes if it has one game piece left, every player puts one in the pot. 2. Each player spins the dreidel once during their turn. Depending on which player side is facing up when it stops spinning, they give or take game pieces from the pot: a) If נ (nun) is facing up, the player does nothing. b) If ג (gimel) is facing up, the player gets everything in the pot. c) If ה (hei) is facing up, the player gets half of the pieces in the pot. (If there are an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes the half the pot rounded up to the nearest whole number) d) If ש (shin) or פ (pei) is facing up, the player adds a game piece to the pot. In some game versions a Shin results in adding three game pieces to the pot (one for each stem of the Shin). This alternative version increases the overall fairness of the game. If the player is out of pieces, they are either "out" or may ask another player for a "loan". 6