Familyshul.org NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 CHESHVAN/KISLEV/TEVET 5 7 7 6 BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE בס" ד בס"ד
Shalom Aleichem Owners and Friends! The President Presents Well, the last few months have certainly been busy and exciting for us with the arrival of girl #5, Liv! Thank you to all who sent donation cards in her honour, much appreciated! We began the summer with a period of uncertainty as to the future of our youth program due to budgetary woes. An enormous thank you to all the incredibly generous individuals who stepped up to the plate to ensure the success of our shul within the space of just a few weeks, we raised over a hundred thousand dollars! We then hired Hadassa Rosen from Toronto who has been doing a wonderful job with our kinderlach so far. You can read more about Hadassa and the youth program in the enclosed youth bulletin. Simchas Torah is also a fabulous fundraiser for the shul. Each year, we auction off the honours for Chatan Torah, Chatan Bereishit and Kol Hane arim for the following year. Mazaltov to next year s honourees: Amir & Carla Lehrer, Rob & Sherrie Wood, and Alan & Orna Richter. In total this year, we raised $6000! We have some great programs lined up for the next couple of months. First, on November 15 th, we have the Women s Health Forum. The initiative is a partnership of all the Jewish women s groups in the city and we are proud to be this year s chair and host venue. You can buy tickets through the office or online. Next, on November 29 th, we are partnering with the Catholic Archdiocese for a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the turning point in Catholic-Jewish relations. After two millennia of derision and persecution, the Church finally recognized and accepted Judaism. Please tell all your friends, Jewish and Christian, about this important event. For Chanukah this year, we are switching it up a little and doing a Chanukah Bowl followed by a program of Spreading the Chanukah Light throughout Edmonton s hospitals. We need lots of volunteers to make this a success, so please be in touch with Chuck to lend a hand. In the western world, Chanukah is often unfortunately conflated with Xmas. The festival that once celebrated our autonomy from the culture around has now fallen victim more than any other Jewish ritual to the magnetic appeal of assimilation. In This is My God, Herman Wouk decries the association people make between the two contradictory festivals. He points out that the only connection between the two is that if the Maccabees had failed in their attempts to drive out the wicked Greeks and Chanukah had never happened, 150 years later there would have been no Jewish people left and Jesus would never have been born! This year, when we light the menorah, let us remember that, as a nation, we have been around the longest. Let us remember that the entire western tradition is founded on our Torah values. Let us remind our children to be strong in their Jewish identity, for only with a strong Jewish identity can one become a light unto the nations. Chanukah celebrates our leadership and our staying power. Our unchanging tradition has survived through the darkest days and nights. The light of the few will always vanquish the darkness of the multitude. Chag urim sameach! Rabbi & Rabbanit Friedman Dear fellow Congregants. The High Holidays and Succot are over for this year. I trust you all found the services and festivities to your liking. Our Cantor was melodious and our services were timely and inspiring. Rabbi Friedman continued with his high level of inspiring and thoughtful speeches. Rosemary and I were fortunate to spend Rosh Hashanah with our daughter and son in law in Philadelphia. It is always special to celebrate with family. I realize several of you are not always enthralled to have a fundraising appeal on Yom Kippur. The truth is this is the only time when our sanctuary is at its maximum with members and we can thus appeal to the majority of you. We do not receive any other funding outside of our membership so if we don t look after our Shul, no-one else will. We are not alone having a Yom Kippur appeal. I guess its also the best time to instill Jewish guilt in our members! Most Shuls that do this kind of fundraising do have Yom Kippur appeals. As I mentioned in my address to you, the Shul is not in any dire predicament but we still need additional funds this year. A large proportion of the budget shortfall has been collected by active fundraising by Rabbi Friedman personally. A huge Yasher Koach to our Rabbi for taking on this responsibility. I would also encourage members to help with the long term stability and survival of our Shul, to ensure the next generations continue to have access to our Shul for prayer and celebration. That is planned giving, to build up financial strength with a Charitable Foundation. Please consider bequeathing money from your estate, insurance policies and the like. At the time of writing, the Shabbos project is almost upon us and promises to be a wonderful and freilich Shabbat. A special Yasher Koach to Rabbis Glatt and Segal and their team for spearheading this event. With winter and December approaching its time to start unpacking the Channukah menorahs. This year our celebration will be a bowling event, not the Channukah on ice as in the past few years. Please look out for details in the next few weeks. Stay well, stay warm. President. Stan Kitay BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE ~ www.familyshul.org 1
Gabbai s Gab ITALY S JEWISH COMMUNITIES Since Freya and I have just returned from a vacation in Italy, I thought that I would share what we learned about Jewish life in Rome and Venice. We were left with some memorable impressions. We spent a week in Rome and stayed in a hotel that was a short 15 minute walk from The Great Synagogue which is a magnificent structure. The lower level of the synagogue houses a smaller Spanish Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. We toured the Jewish Museum and both Synagogues on our first day in Rome. We learned that Jews came to Rome as traders and have resided in Italy for more than 2000 years and, therefore, most Italian Jews are neither Ashkenaz nor Sephardic. The Great Synagogue is Italian and is proud that it has its own liturgy. The smaller Spanish Synagogue is Sephardic and originated as a result of Jews emigrating from Spain. We attended the Friday night Shabbat service in the Italian Synagogue and were impressed by the male choir. Following the service we went outside and into the Sukkah for Kiddush. We returned for the Shabbat morning service where I again attended the large Italian Synagogue. Freya went up to the women s section in the balcony and stayed there for part of the service but then went downstairs to the Sephardic service. Again, we enjoyed Kiddush in the Sukkah. The Synagogue is in the area which was formerly the Jewish ghetto. Although it is no longer a ghetto, the area still has a distinct Jewish character. Located there is a large Hebrew school and several kosher restaurants. They have a unique way of separating meat from milk. The meat restaurants are on one side of the road and the dairy restaurants are on the other side! Our meals at both the meat and the dairy restaurants were delicious. Of course we tried the remarkable deep fried artichokes which are one of the many gems of Roman-Jewish cuisine. We took a guided walking tour of the ghetto and learned more about Jewish history there. During the time of the Roman Empire, Jews were appreciated for their financial and medical skills but in the 16 th century systematic persecution began until eventually all Jews were forced to live inside a high walled enclosure near the Tiber River where the land was low resulting in floods and disease. While in the ghetto Jews were allowed only three occupations money lenders, second hand dealers, and in the fish market. We were surprised to discover that there was a Jewish tour of The Vatican. We attended that tour with a wonderful guide who is a member of Rome s Jewish community. In the Sistine Chapel she drew our attention to Michelangelo s many frescoes depicting the heroes and heroines from the Torah as well as many disguised Jewish symbols. It was fascinating. We also went to Venice, a city with a long Jewish history but where only about 500 reside now. Today the old ghetto area remains a centre for Jewish life and is still culturally very active. It is interesting to note that the term ghetto that is in use today originated in Venice and comes from an Italian word for slag and it refers to a foundry located on the same land where the Jews were confined and where slag was once stored. We attended a joyous Simchat Torah celebration in Venice s Spanish Synagogue which is very old and very beautiful. The men sit on one side and the women on the other side. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to carry a Torah. The singing, dancing, and candy throwing was electric! I hope you enjoyed our brief glimpse of Jewish life in Rome and Venice. Lewis Wasel Thank you to everyone that made a donation to B.I. in honour of our 60th wedding anniversary. Dr. Bernie & Miriam Adler The worst chapter in Rome s history occurred on October 16, 1943 when the Nazis deported 1022 people to concentration camps and only 16 returned. Today, the Jewish population of Rome is 13,000. BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE ~ www.familyshul.org 2
Director s Diary So here we are once again doing what s expected of us reporting what s going on, what s happening, saying Thank You etc. How about we get a letter from one or two of you thanking us for what gets done at the shul. We try very hard to keep things up to scratch, and the only time we get a call is when you want to make a complaint! It s good for us to know when there is something we ve missed, but I must say we like to get a few pats on the back as well! All the Yom Tovim are over, seating went well, Pnina Staav, I could not have done it without you, Todah Rabah! One major error in the Yarzeit book which has now been corrected, I would like to apologize to the Ovics family. We did not leave off beloved Rachel Ovics z l in our original list, her name was inadvertently left off when we put into alphabetical order and sent off to the printers, then of course the proof readers did not notice it. We have reprinted and you will have corrected books for the next Yizkor service. Our Pizza oven has seen many years, and we were advised by the service mechanic that it would be cheaper in the end to purchase a new one than throw money away to fix a 30 year old oven. So this we have done. Talmud Torah keeps Yuri very busy with 21 24 pizzas every two weeks, our own youth programs we do 5 per week, our B. I. Mishna Club at Talmud Torah with Rabbi Segal takes 4 pizzas every week, and we now also provide the pizzas for Beth Shalom s TT club. So the new oven will pay for itself very soon. We are trying to sell the old one on kijiji. If you know of anyone that needs one let us know. The Challah Bake, organized by the Kollel with Devorah Kaplan and her team doing all the hard work putting it together was such an awesome experience, all the ladies laughing, talking, mixing, dancing and singing. Then Rabbi and Rebbetzin Segal and Rabbi and Rebbetzin Glatt continued the Shabbat Project with a Shabbos to remember. Our Youth director Hadassah Rosen organized a NCSY Friday night supper in the shul and thought she would have 10 to 15 young people, but in the end there were 23. All the cooking was done by Hadassah, well done! The whole weekend was so inspiring and uplifting I m sure Hashem was smiling down on Beth Israel the Family Shul. We are sending out statements by mail this month. Please, please don t put our statement on the bottom of the pile. If you are not in agreement with your statement, phone us, lets go over it together. Tax receipts are being prepared so I m sure you all want your tax receipts for 2015 pay your o/s amounts amounts so that you can receive the benefit. It s been wonderful working with our new your director. She is enthusiastic and comes to the table with lots of ideas, which she is doing her best to make it happen. During the next few months you will notice lots happening. Once again I would like to thank our wonderful volunteers, yes we do have but not enough, it seems I have to call the same people over and over, not that they are not willing to always come, but I do wish that more of you would phone me and offer your services when I need you. The other day I had Naomi Beck peeling potatoes with Eli Sabbah in one kitchen and Freya Wasel doing pizzas with Yuri in another kitchen. That was something!! Well, all the best, till next time Luba. BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE ~ www.familyshul.org 3
November December November December Clive Edel Allen Blair Bondar Ram & Elaine Romanovsky Tom & Nina Hardin Howard & Esther Starkman Morley & Naomi Wolfman Stan & Rosemary Kitay Stan & Faith Greenspan Nathan & Sandra Kahn Michael & Cheryl Gluckman Amir & Carla Lehrer Barry & June Zalmanowitz Jack & Marilyn Cohen Bernie & Jeannette Hoffman Gabe Goldberg Ken Soroka Navit Allouche Miriam Lieberman Faith Greenspan Rudi Shlomovitch Yalli Levin Daniella Asbell Gabriella Tankel Gail Buck Sharon Macklin Nina Bernstein Murray Cooper Hinda Lipshitz Erica Solomon Rabbi Daniel Friedman Hanna Pollack Ivy Broesky Sherrie Banks Eric Muradov Dara Katzeff Michael Muradov Dave Broesky Nikki Lazar Joshua Muradov Esther Sklofsky Adam Baram Leah Goldford Jerry Cooper Alan Richter Jeannette Hoffman Ben Starkman Heather Vickar Fay Leigh Shmulik Rosenblum Misha Vickar Joel Reboh Myra Kacew Maneesha Fraser Erica Karabus Misha Pesin Naomi Wolfman Geoffrey Sperber Sarah Levine Susan Mintz Linda Silverman Lewis Wasel Robert Wood Jamie Anna Friedman Fay Kifer BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE ~ www.familyshul.org 4
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