Temple Beth Electronic News Visit our temple website at www.templebe.org Kislev-Tevet 5778 December 2017 Thank You s Y To the Garfields for hosting Rabbi Jim the last time he was in town. Also, to Phyllis and Alan for organizing and providing dinner for the Adult Dinner & Discussion. What an unusual film we watched and then discussed! Thank you both! Y To Ellie for taking the rabbi to dinner on the Friday, during which she braved her first big drive since her surgery. Great job! Y To the Pearces for the delicious oneg! Looks like Brett is also recovering well from his surgery! Y To Victor, for being the Jewish speaker at the November Children of Abraham event, the topic of which was Responding to the Abuse of Power. The Weekend of December 8-9 Y We will be celebrating an early Hanukkah on Friday, December 8. Join us for a service downstairs at 6:00 PM, followed by our annual Hanukkah Celebration!! Once again, Randy and Teresa will provide latkes and matzo ball soup (thank you!), and everyone else please bring a dairy dish to share (no meat). Bring your own Hanukkiah (menorah) so that we can have a congregational candle lighting ceremony candles will be available. The Beth El Hanukkah Celebration is a family-friendly, fun, and delicious highlight of our year and everyone is welcome to come! And we will have a musical surprise, courtesy of Jeff & Phillip Glenn! Y Family School will take place on Saturday at 10:00 AM. Y Adult Hebrew class will take place on Saturday at noon. Y Adult Dinner & Discussion will take place on the Saturday at 6:00 PM, and will be hosted by Larry & Kate, who will provide vegetarian chili and cornbread. They ask everyone else to bring a dish or dessert to share. The timely topic for adult education: Judaism and Christianity: A Comparison. Temple Trip There will be a trip to attend a Shabbat morning Bar or Bat Mitzvah service at Temple Beth El in Madison. This is specifically being organized for the families of our Bar Mitzvah candidates, but other people are certainly welcome to come along. The date has not yet been finalized, so if you are interested in joining this activity, please let Cindy know (mikelcinkc@gmail.com). DACU Dubuque Area Congregations United Once again, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service sponsored by DACU was very special. The featured speaker comes from Sinsinawa and was extremely inspiring. Both Alan and Phyllis have leadership roles in DACU, and our temple community thanks you for all of your interfaith work and commitment. 1
Jewish Art in Midwest Collections Alan Garfield and his Museum Studies class at the University of Dubuque curated an exhibit of artwork by Jewish artists or of Jewish subjects/places. This may be the first such exhibit in our area, and the show received a lot of praise. Thanks so much to Alan and his students (all of whom happen to be Saudi) and to all who lent their artwork, especially to Jacquie, whose original Jerusalem painting was prominently on display. Temple members and UD students at the exhibit opening 2
Upcoming Temple Weekends and Events January & February 2018 Temple Weekends Y As already announced, the services for our January and February temple weekends will take place on the Saturday mornings at 10 AM. (Not on the Friday night.) Please update your calendars accordingly. Y In January, following the morning service, we will have a Tu BiShvat Seder (celebrating the New Year of the Trees), which will include lunch, followed by Adult Discussion. Y In February, we will have lunch after the morning service instead of an oneg, and Becca will coordinate this luncheon. This will be followed by Adult Discussion. Y We look forward to seeing a lot of you at our January & February services. It will still be light outside and hopefully the weather will cooperate. Y For both January & February, Family School will take place on Sunday at 10 AM. Y Adult Hebrew class day/time to be decided by those students and the rabbi. March 2018 Temple Weekend Y Our March service will return to Friday evening. This will be the Visitors Service. Details to come and this will be a group oneg. Y Our Purim Party will take place on the Saturday in March. Again, details to come, but please add these March events to your calendars. Reflections in the Park Interfaith Opportunities and Mitzvot We have once again been asked to staff the Reflections in the Park light show to benefit Hillcrest Family Services, on Sunday, December 24. Hillcrest provides a variety of social services to teens and families in the area, and "Reflections" is their main fundraiser. Christmas Eve is usually one of the top nights for funds raised, and they might have to close if we did not help. Contact Becca (RGottlieb@edgewood.edu) for more information or to sign up for a shift. Area Food Pantries In addition to bringing non-perishable items such as peanut butter & jelly to services for the Dubuque Food Pantry, we can support area Food Pantries with monetary donations. Send checks made out to the Dubuque Food Pantry to 1598 Jackson Street, Dubuque, IA, 52001 Send checks made out to the "United Churches of Galena Food Pantry" to 971 Gear Street, Galena, IL 61036 Send checks made out to the "Platteville Food Pantry" to P.O. box # 127, Platteville, WI 53818 3
Children of Abraham 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. Conversations are warm, informative, and often rather humorous. Always on Thursdays, at 7 PM. The next conversation will take place in January 2018. The Importance of Hosting It takes all of us to make our small temple function smoothly and we can t survive by always relying on the same folks to volunteer. Hosting opportunities for our members include: Y Having the rabbi stay with you for a weekend when he is here in town. Y Organizing an oneg following Shabbat services. If you are interested in learning more about how to do a Beth El oneg, we have guidelines that we would be happy to share with you. Y Taking the rabbi for dinner prior to a Friday night Shabbat Service. This could be in your home or at a restaurant as long as it s early enough for the rabbi to arrive at temple in time to prepare. Y Our Saturday evening Adult Dinner & Discussions require hosts. These events can take place at someone s home (no need to cook pot luck is fine), or at a restaurant where everyone pays for their own food and then we go to your home or to the temple or other meeting place to have our discussions. 4
We would love to have new people involved in hosting and others as well and we are happy to provide guidance. Y To host the rabbi for a weekend or to host a Dinner & Discussion, contact Cindy Pearce (mikelcinkc@gmail.com). Y To host the rabbi for Friday night dinner, contact Randy Sirk (randysir@aol.com). Y To host an oneg, contact Fern Reinstein (threeamstamper@yahoo.com). Yartzeits for December Abba Leifer (Barb Alexander's Uncle) Richard Keene Baby Levi Ida Rotman (Ruthie Silverberg's Mother) Lillian Olanosky David Urbach Dora Oller Nathan Gerson Robert Garfield Harry Render Baby Brin Harry Shuman Eleanor Shuman Louis Belsky Meyer Marmis David Parson Sally Janis Jacobson Samuel Sommer Annie Lois Isaac Miller Samuel Rosenbloom Helen Birndorf Baby Gable Mina Gershon (Kate Scheinman's Step- Grandmother) Zanvil Rotman Julius Weinstein (Larry Goldberg's Grandfather) Henry Render George Tabak Sarah Belsky Orrin Shapiro (Barb Alexander's Cousin) Ben Glazer (Rea Kirk's Father) Goldie Feldstein Baby Greenberg William Olansky Eva Platt Grace Burstein (Ellie Landau's Mother) Rochelle Farber Mary Rosenthal Leonard Winston (Larry Goldberg's Uncle) Mary Hertzman Sidney Scheinman (Kate Scheinman's Grandfather) Jack Solomon Meyer Zuckerman Gail Farber (Susan Farber's Cousin) Sol Urbach Max Patinkin Walter Urbach Yartzeits We would like to update our yartzeit list to include the relationship of a deceased loved one to a current or recent 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. 5
From Rabbi Jim CPE I Throughout the last 25 years or so, I have always had one foot of my career in the chaplaincy. This branch of the rabbinate afforded me an opportunity to help people with the different challenges they faced, both inside and outside the hospital setting. As part and parcel to this process, I enrolled in a class, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), designed specifically for clergy. Here, I studied the complex nature of visiting and comforting patients. We were all given access to the hospital s floors as well as to its specific departments. We would be witnesses and recorders of what we saw and heard. More than this, we were encouraged to share our own feelings and reactions to any given visit; this was accomplished in group once a week. This would include describing the room, the people present (including the chaplain), the medical (or other) situation, and a detailed report of one s own interactions (or lack thereof). We were on-call at least once a week (usually during the night), when each of us might be the sole chaplain in the hospital. When our pagers went off, we were to respond as quickly as possible, that is to say that we, for the most part, had to be ready for most anything, from a victim of an accident to the death of a man with cancer in his 40s. After our on-call, we, once again, would write up a paper that contained all of the above that would once again be open to the eyes of all my fellow students. Here the paper would be virtually torn-up and analyzed. We would receive constructive criticism from a variety of vantage points. In doing so, we would learn of better ways to approach and handle each new situation. After going through this process time and again, we began to have an idea of our strengths and weaknesses, our capabilities and our impasses. This would serve us well! And this was just the beginning! To be continued. Happy Chanukah! Rabbi 6
Service and Mitzvah Schedule for 2017-2018 (5777-8) (Not all events are included on this schedule. Refer to each newsletter for events/times/dates.) December 8 6:00 PM Service followed by Hanukkah Celebration December 9 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM Goldberg-Scheinman December 9 Adult Hebrew with Rabbi, noon December 9 Dinner/Discussion, 6:00 PM: Goldberg-Scheinman home December 24 Reflections in the Park volunteering opportunity 2018 January 20 Shabbat morning service, 10:00 AM Tu Bishvat Seder (including lunch) at temple following the service; Adult Discussion at temple, following the seder January 21 Sunday morning Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM February 17 Shabbat morning service, 10:00 AM Luncheon at temple following the service; Adult Discussion at temple, following the luncheon February 18 Sunday morning Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM March 16 VISITORS SERVICE start time to be determined March 17 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM March 17 Adult Hebrew with Rabbi, noon March 17 PURIM PARTY details to come Group Oneg for Visitors Service April 6 CONGREGATIONAL SEDER start time to be determined April 7 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM April 7 Adult Hebrew with Rabbi, noon May 11 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM May 12 Bar Mitzvah Service for Phillip Glenn June 8 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM June 9 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00 AM June 9 Adult Hebrew with Rabbi, noon July 20 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM July 21 Bar Mitzvah Service for Gabriel Intriligator Oneg: Oneg: Oneg: 7