Temple Beth Electronic News Visit our temple website at www.templebe.org Elul 5775 to Tishrei 5776 September 2015 Thank You s Y To Alan, a special thanks for the back to shul cards! So clever and helpful, so that we can all be in the right place at the right time! Y To the Pearces for hosting the rabbi last weekend, and also for hosting dinner/adult discussion. Y To Becca for providing dinner for the rabbi Friday night! Y To the Goldberg/Scheinmans for hosting the oneg last time. Y To Rabbi Anne for the very interesting conversation about Shabbat at the last two adult get-togethers! Y Thanks so much to Alan and Donnie for their continued involvement in the Children of Abraham program. The schedule for this year has just come out (www.cofabraham.org), and again there are many exciting events planned. Dubuque s Children of Abraham creates an atmosphere in civic life that builds inter-religious solidarity, cooperation, and friendship. It does so through regular monthly topical conversations, service activities, educational outreach, the creative use of sacred space, and expressions of cross-cultural hospitality. Everyone is invited. Their conversations are warm, informative and often rather humorous. Always on Thursdays, they begin at 7 PM. Y And thanks in advance to everyone who will be bringing a dish to share for the Rosh Hashanah luncheon and the Yom Kippur break-the-fast dinner. Temple Beth El certainly likes to eat while we meet and greet!! New Year s Greeting Booklet The New Year s booklet is about to go to press. A really really enormous expression of gratitude goes to Ellie Landau for all the work putting this together. It is quite an undertaking, primarily done by a committee of one. Thanks Ellie, you are great! A big thanks to everyone who has already donated to this honor and memory booklet, which is basically our only fundraising effort. If you haven t yet contacted Ellie with your information, please send her an email today at landau4873@gmail.com. There is still room for everyone s information, if you contact Ellie immediately. Member News Y Lucee Sirk has been discharged from Stonehill Rehabilitation center and is back in her assisted living apartment at Oak Park Place. And doing very well!! Excellent! Y Emily Goldberg has become a graduate student in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Mazel Tov to this amazing young woman! High Holidays Food Drive High Holiday Food Drive: When you attend services on Rosh Hashanah, you will receive a grocery bag. Please fill it with non-perishable food items and return the bag(s) during Yom Kippur. Our donations will go to the Dubuque Food Pantry. We fast by choice, but others are hungry because of their circumstances. October Hosts Volunteers are needed to host Rabbi Anne for her October visit and to host the Adult Dinner & Discussion. 1
TEMPLE BETH EL HIGH HOLY DAYS Rosh Hashanah Sunday, September 13: Erev Rosh Hashanah Service, 7:00 PM Monday, September 14: Rosh Hashanah Morning Service, 10:00 AM There is a pot-luck luncheon (from 12:15 PM to 1:30 PM) following the Morning Service. Please bring a salad or dessert to serve approximately 12 people. (Dairy meal: fish, eggs, and milk products.) Please bring in a serving bowl or tray with serving utensils. Thanks once again to Fern Reinstein for organizing the luncheon. So glad Fern is feeling well enough to do this! Contact Fern at: threeamstamper@yahoo.com with any questions. Tashlich Service (from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM) following the luncheon. Tashlich will take place at the pavilion on the Mississippi, near the River Museum. In conjunction with Tashlich, Rabbi Anne will conduct a brief Family Program. Our Cemetery Service will take place on Sunday, September 20, at 10:30 AM at Linwood Cemetery. Yom Kippur Tuesday, September 22: Kol Nidrei Service, 7:00 PM Wednesday, September 23: Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10:00 AM Yizkor, 12:30 PM Family Program, 3:45 PM Afternoon Service, 4:30 PM Concluding Service, 5:45 PM Break-the-fast meal immediately follows the Concluding Service. We will ask you to sign up to bring one of the following: herring, hard-boiled or deviled eggs, egg salad, lox, sliced vegetables, fruit, or kugel. Becca Gottlieb is again organizing this meal. You may contact her directly with any questions at gottlieb@uwplatt.edu. More on the High Holy Days Becca is also helping the rabbi to arrange the honors for High Holidays in advance. Please let Becca know which services you plan to attend and if you have any preferences (Hebrew/English, for example) or requests. She may also contact members with questions or suggestions. We are happy to include visiting relatives, adult children, former members, and so on. We have received a number of phone calls from people who are asking about our holiday services. We may therefore have some visitors/prospective members at services. Please remember our audacious hospitality!! 2
Condolences Former Temple Beth El member Harvey Zuckerman passed away. He was originally from Dubuque, where he owned women's wear stores, including Zookies. Harvey moved to Napa, California, 18 years ago when he married his second wife. Current temple member Barbara Alexander introduced the two of them. At the time of his death, Harvey was 84 years old. He is survived by his daughter Barbara and his son, Buddy and his wife. May God comfort the Zuckerman family among all who mourn in Zion and Jerusalem. Upcoming Sukkot Celebration with Children of Abraham by Alan Garfield and Donnie Wood Temple Beth El will celebrate Sukkot on Tuesday, September 29, starting at 5 PM, by inviting the members of Children of Abraham to join with us in the construction, decoration and celebration (with dinner) of this Jewish holiday. Last year was the first time in a l-o-n-g time that our congregation celebrated Sukkot, and we had a great time. Jews, Christians and Muslims building and decorating followed by, what else, eating. Sukkot always begins on the 15th day of Tishrei (the 5th day after the most solemn of Jewish holy days, Yom Kippur). But by contrast, Sukkot is unreservedly joyful. We will be celebrating it together as a community. Children and adults. Bring a hammer (or not) but come join the fun. The Sukkah is a temporary structure built during the Jewish festival of Sukkot to commemorate the 40 years that Jews spent wandering the desert (Biblical times). It is a symbolic wilderness shelter, symbolizing both the frailty and transience of life and God s presence always in our lives. Most of us live in houses or apartments built by others. Most of us eat bread baked by professionals. Sukkah-building gives us the chance to enjoy the fruits of our own labor, decorated with harvest-time crops. It shouldn t be an elegant structure (don t worry, it won t be);; it should be a rough shack built by many hands. This will be a joyous joint activity. We ll have flowers, branches, corn stalks, fruits, and vegetables all sorts of Fall Harvest symbols to decorate the Sukkah. The temporary nature of the structure is part of the tradition;; it is important to have walls but also to see the sky thru the roof. Please plan to come at 5pm to help build and decorate the Sukkah adults and children are all very welcome. At 6pm, we ll have a short (10 minute) service in the Sukkah after which we ll proceed to the Temple s Social Hall to share a meal together. Participants are asked to bring a dish to share. In order to ensure that we keep kosher, please do not bring any meat. We request that each family/person bring a non-meat (a dairy dish or fruit dish) to share with 5 people. Or, if you don t have time to bring/prepare anything, just plan to come, participate and eat. Simple, really. We ll have drinks and dessert for all. This is a time for laughing, praying, sharing and thanking. Community Opportunities and Interaction Y High Holiday Food Drive: As already noted above, when you attend services on Rosh Hashanah, you will receive a grocery bag. Please fill it with non-perishable food items and return the bag(s) during Yom Kippur. Our donations will go to the Dubuque Food Pantry. 3
Y Dubuque Food Pantry also accepts extra produce from your summer gardens! Drop off hours are MWF 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM and Tues. 9:00 AM to 11:45 AM. (The address is 1598 Jackson Street, Dubuque, IA, 52001.) Non-perishable items the pantry is requesting for September include sugar, oil, tuna, potatoes (any kind), mac & cheese, laundry soap and dish soap. Feel free to either drop off the non-perishables at the Dubuque Food Pantry or bring to temple when you come for a service or other event. (Only bring nonperishables to temple, please.) Y Once again, Temple Beth El is participating with other DACU congregations in the Crop Walk, on Sunday, October 4 at 1:00 PM. Contact Becca Gottlieb (gottlieb@uwplatt.edu) with any questions, to sign up, or to donate. The money raised is divided between fighting hunger worldwide and fighting hunger locally. Please be sure to mark your calendars! Y Temple Beth El will again participate in the Andrew Connolly Make a Difference Day, which will take place on Saturday, October 24. The names of the team members need to be submitted, so please let Cindy know if you would like to participate. This will be the fourth year that we have been involved. Special skills are not required! Just a willingness to help people who need some assistance in their homes, like washing windows and raking leaves. It begins at 9 AM and usually lasts until about1pm. Yartzeits for September Harvey Zuckerman Raymond Alterman (Lon Alterman's Father) Jeanette Glenn (Jeff Glenn's Mother) Abraham Wolberg Joseph Weil Anna Weingartner Albert R. Kadesky Lillian Parson Morris I. Farber Dorothy Goldberg (Larry Goldberg's Mother) Rebecca Rudin (Barry Rudin's Mother) Mrs. Tobias Wiley Matthew Olansky Bertha Lela Sachs Victims of 9/11 Pearl Barrash Lossman Sarah Dobson Barrash James Levi Milton Surkin Esther Hertzman Susan Rotman Florence Spiro Harold Barrash Isaac H. Jacobson Frances D. Marks Sarah Bilsky Ida Manhoff Jacob Rosenthal Sam Polsky A. I. Brin Bertha Zack Samuel Magdal Jennie Urbach Lin Silverberg Jeffery H. Schuman Herman Z. Semenov Peter Wester Herbert Glenn (Jeff Glenn's Father) Max Reimer Martin Andrew Uze Yartzeit/Yizkor/New Year s Greeting Booklet Clarification We would like to update our yartzeit list to include the relationship of a deceased loved one to a current or recent former temple member. If you would like this relationship to be added to names on our list, or if you have names to add to our list, please email the information to Kate at KateTotalBook@gmail.com. The Yizkor list, read during the High Holidays, is an alphabetical compilation of all names from all of the Yartzeit lists. Our New Year s Greeting booklet is not the same as either the Yartzeit or Yizkor lists. The yearly fundraising booklet is a separate thing altogether. 4
Hosting Opportunities Please sign up for hosting opportunities. We will have signup sheets circulating at our next services so bring your calendars with you. We all need to help out to keep our small temple community vibrant, engaging, and welcoming!! To host the rabbi for the weekend or to host an Adult Study, contact Cindy Pearce (mikelcinkc@aol.com). To host the rabbi for dinner, contact Randy Sirk (randysir@aol.com). To host an oneg, contact Fern Reinstein (threeamstamper@yahoo.com). From Rabbi Anne Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof ~ Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue Deuteronomy 16:20 The Yamim Noraim, High Holy Days, are a time of personal reflection; we are encouraged to look at ourselves and the world around us and ask, how can I do better, be better, make the world a better place? As we engage in our annualcheshbon hanefesh, our accounting of the soul, we are to look not only inward but also outward not only at our own spiritual health but at the spiritual health of our communities and our world. As the New Year gives us the opportunity to recommit ourselves to becoming our best, let it also be a time when we commit ourselves anew to tikkun olam, the reparation of the world. In a week s time, we will be welcoming in the year 5776 and this year we are going to expand our Social Action endeavors. We are going to actively pursue justice in many forms. We, at Temple Beth-El, already do incredibly good work. We have our High Holy Day (and ongoing) food drive; we participate in the Crop Walk and Make a Difference Day; we are instrumental in Reflections in the Park and Children of Abraham. We have served a meal at Hope House, and we have done presentations about Judaism to the BMV sisters at Mt. Carmel, which promote peace and understanding. Throughout the year, we help make our community and world better. How might you and we pursue further this year? Our last shabbat together, I said that this High Holy Days I will be introducing a new project that I am excited about but I also asked that you consider a new way for you and/or us to pursue justice. Perhaps you feel strongly about the environment or food justice or human rights or health care. Perhaps you want to reach out to children or the elderly or people struggling with mental disorders. Perhaps you want to act locally or nationally or globally. Whatever your passion, we want to support your pursuit of justice your tikkun olam. Please let me know what justice you would like to pursue this year by filling out this very short survey or by emailing me directly at gingeetanne@gmail.com and sharing with me: How you would like to pursue justice this year Would you like Temple Beth-El to participate in your project? How might I support your efforts I truly believe that with every act, no matter how small or how large, we have a chance to change the world. Let 5776 be the year that we change the world for better. Let 5776 be the year that we change the world for justice. Shanah Tovah, Rabbi Anne Persin 5
Service and Mitzvah Schedule for 2015-2016 (5775-5776) (Not all special events are included on this schedule. Refer to each newsletter for times/dates.) Rosh Hashanah September 13-14 Refer to the High Holy Day Schedule (The Pearces will host the rabbi and her father) Yom Kippur September 22-23 Refer to the High Holy Day Schedule (The rabbi and her mother will stay at a motel) Tuesday, September 29 at 5:00PM. Sukkot Celebration (see details in newsletter) Sunday, October 4 at 1PM Crop Walk (see details in newsletter) October 9 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi Glenn October 10 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night Landau November 6 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi November 7 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night December 4 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi December 5 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night Hanukkah party Sunday December 6 2016 January 15 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi January 16 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night 6
February 19 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi February 20 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night March 18 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi March 19 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night April 15 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi April 16 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night May 13 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi May 14 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night June 10 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi June 11 Family School with Rabbi, 9:30AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night 7