Temple Beth Electronic News Visit our temple website at www.templebe.org Kislev Tevet 5776 December 2015 Thank You s Y To Larry and Kate for hosting the rabbi in November. Y To the Landaus for hosting the oneg. Y To Hank and Linda for hosting Adult Discussion and the delicious dinner!! Y To Alan and Donnie for the amazing Children of Abraham events. See more, including photos, later in this newsletter. Y To Becca for representing Temple Beth El at the recognition dinner for Reflections in the Park. Also see more on this, later in the newsletter. Y A big extra thanks to Donnie for all the work that he is doing with the young people at Family School. It is wonderful how much progress the boys are making with Hebrew. Very exciting to see! There may be Benei Mitzvot in the temple s future. The Weekend of December 4 & 5 Y Friday evening Shabbat Service and Hanukkah Celebration at 6:00 PM. (Please note the earlier start time.) See details, below. Y Saturday morning Family School at 10:00 AM Y No Saturday evening programming. Temple Beth El Hanukkah Celebration Friday evening, December 4, we will celebrate Hanukkah!! The rabbi will not be joining us for the weekend, so this will be a lay-led service lasting about an hour. Immediately following the service, we will have our annual Hanukkah Celebration!! Once again, Randy and Teresa will provide latkes and matzo ball soup (thank you!), and everyone else please bring a dish to share (no meat). Bring your own Hanukkiahs (menorahs) so that we can have a congregational candle lighting ceremony. We will have boxes of Hanukkah candles available for purchase. The Beth El Hanukkah Celebration is a family-friendly, fun, and delicious highlight of our year and everyone is welcome to come! For more information, contact Temple President, Cindy Pearce (mikelcinkc@aol.com). Temple Dues You should have received your Temple Beth El dues statement. Please remember we need support from everyone. If you have not already done so, please send in your dues, or set up a payment plan with our treasurer, Ellie Landau (landau4873@gmail.com). Member and Friend News All of the people who have had various health concerns seem to be doing well - Jacquie, Wayne, Meta, Fern, and Jesse. So glad that everyone is on the up and up and we hope to see everyone soon. Lucee Sirk has become a permanent resident at Stonehill. She is doing well, but she needs the additional physical assistance which is available there. It is comforting for everyone that she is in a setting that is meeting her needs. 1
Jerusalem 3D: Free Movie on Tues, Dec 1. 7pm or Thur, Dec 3. 7pm From Alan Garfield: A Jew, a Muslim and a Christian walk into the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium large format 3D theater in Dubuque and... Join other Temple members and Dubuque folks at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium as together we watch this acclaimed movie about Jerusalem and then talk about it. Sponsored by grants from the Wendt Character Initiative and DACU (Dubuque Area Congregations United), these special showing will be free/gratis for these two nights only. Hosted by our local interfaith group Children of Abraham, there will be refreshments after the 45 minute movie and then a short discussion hosted by members of the Children of Abraham. While it is free, the seating is limited to a first come, first serve basis. Here is how you get the free tickets: 1. Go to the following website: http://www.cofabraham.org and click on the JERUSALEM 3D image on the top. (And while there, look around and see what we do at the Children of Abraham.) 2. Then fill out the form. Easy. 150 seats for each night. Hope to see you there. The movie will be good but the conversation, well if you've ever been to one of our activities, that s always the best. Questions? Email Alan: agarfield@hotmail.com. More on Children of Abraham The previous session of Children of Abraham took place at Temple Beth El, on November 19. The topic under discussion was The Purpose of Life. Alan, who is on the Children of Abraham board (along with Donnie), estimates that there were 210 people in attendance! They came, loved our place, and ate all the food Phyllis and Cindy prepared. Nothing was left. Wow. Thanks to those Beth El people who attended, and see photos from the event on the next page. The upcoming Children of Abraham sessions are: Y January 28: Scripture Study Torah Clarke University Y February 18: Coming of Age Tri-State Islamic Center Y March 10: Scripture Study Bible University of Dubuque Y April 21: Faces of our Faiths St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 1199 Main St 2
Look at how many people attended the Children of Abraham session at Temple!! 3
Community Engagement Reflections in the Park Save the date: we have once again been asked to staff the Reflections in the Park light show to benefit Hillcrest Family Services on December 24th. 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. They are immensely grateful every year. We want to thank Rebecca Gottlieb for representing Temple Beth El at the recent recognition dinner for Reflections in the Park. Becca not only spoke for us at the dinner, but she has also coordinated our participation in the Reflections event for many years. A huge thanks to Becca for all your work and for your wonderful presentation!!! We appreciate you!! And from Becca, herself: Contact me (gottlieb@uwplatt.edu 608-348-2694) to sign up for shifts on December 24. We are the gate-keepers for "Reflections in the Park" from 5-10pm. I went to the pre-show recognition dinner on Tuesday (11-24) and said a few words about the Temple's involvement. Once they knew I was from Beth El, many people made a point to thank us (and I am reporting these thanks as requested), especially the Hillcrest staff. This year's program, which is given out to every car going through the park says: Our Jewish brothers and sisters also have much tradition to celebrate. We are especially proud of the tradition that members of the Dubuque Temple Beth El give to Dubuque each Christmas Eve at Reflections when they volunteer at our gate so that Christians can be with their family. We are glad that the Star of David and Menorah are proudly lighted each year at "Reflections in the Park." The event included a preview tour of the light show, and the displays sponsored by the Sirk Foundation and Farber Bag are in a prominent spot and look great. (They always look nice, but I think they're in a more highlighted position this year.) Dubuque Area Congregations United The DACU Interfaith Worship Service took place on November 25, which was the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. This event has been going on for more than 30 years. Temple Beth El is active on the Worship committee and participated in the program. Thanks to Phyllis, Donnie, Thomas, Tsvi, and Alan for their beautiful efforts. And an extra thanks to Alan for his amazing work with People in Need an incredible program to help people who have short term needs, in which none of the donations go for administrative costs. In other words, volunteer time is used to accomplish the efforts. Alan, way to go!! Dubuque Area Food Pantries In addition to our usual (and perennially needed) peanut butter and jelly, suggestions for December donations include, potatoes, canned fruit, cooking oil, hot chocolate, graham crackers, facial tissue, bar and/or dish soap. Bring the non-perishable items to Temple. 4
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 Anne is unable to drive in, it is possible that the Worship Committee will hold a Lay Service. Temple Hosts To host the rabbi for a weekend or to host a Dinner & Discussion, 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). Yartzeits for December Abba Leifer 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 Note: 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. 5
Service and Mitzvah Schedule for 2015-2016 (5776) (Not all special events are included on this schedule. Refer to each newsletter for times/dates.) December 4 Shabbat Service & Hanukkah Celebration, 6:00 PM December 5 Family School with Donnie, 10:00AM December 19 Family School with Donnie, 10:00AM December 24 Reflections in the Park volunteering opportunity 2016 January 15 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi January 16 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night February 19 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi February 20 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night March 18 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi March 19 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night April 15 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi April 16 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night May 13 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi 6
May 14 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night June 10 Shabbat service, 7:00 PM Host the rabbi June 11 Family School with Rabbi, 10:00AM Dinner with rabbi Friday night 7