SCIENTISTS IN SYNAGOGUE PROGRAM Does Privacy Matter? Sunday, November 11, 9:0 am What is privacy? Is it the right to be left alone? The right to control the distribution of information about yourself? And is it possible to have privacy in a society that has ubiquitous public and private collection of information? What would such privacy mean? Join us for a talk by Professor Susan Landau of Tufts University, followed by a panel discussion with our members Josh Bernstein and Jeremy Shapiro from the tech industry, followed by Q&A with all those present. Though many of the privacy issues being discussed today are related to the challenges of contemporary technologies, questions of privacy rights go back to discussions in the Talmud. Susan Landau is Bridge Professor of Cyber Security and Policy at the Fletcher of Law and Diplomacy and the of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Tufts University. Landau s new book, Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age, was just published by Yale University Press; she is also the author of Surveillance or Security? The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies (MIT Press) and coauthor, with Whitfield Diffie, of Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption (MIT Press). Landau has testified before Congress, written for the Washington Post, Science, and Scientific American, and frequently appears on NPR and BBC. Landau has been a senior staff Privacy Analyst at Google, a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, and was inducted into the Cybersecurity Hall of Fame in 2015. A 2012 Guggenheim fellow, she is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association for Computing Machinery. Hardly a day passes without issues of privacy and security being at the top of the news. Join us to learn more about this important topic. Part of Scientists in Synagogues, run by Sinai and Synapses in consultation with the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion, and primarily funded by the John Templeton Foundation. WHAT S INSIDE From Rabbi Aron 2 Did You Know? s at a Glance Calendar 4 Adult Education Events 6 Thanksgiving 6 Events with Miss Emily 7 Youth and Family Programs 7 Hanukkah Events 8 Celebration Classic 8 www.shirhadash.org 408 58 1751 VOLUME 40, ISSUE N ov - D e c 2 0 1 8 C h es h v a n K islev T evet 5 7 7 9
FROM RABBI MELANIE ARON Water Under the Bridge or a Watershed Moment? May our new century be spared the turbulence of the last and may events take a turn for the positive speedily and in our day. November includes two significant Jewish dates. November 9th is the anniversary of Kristallnacht (198), the night of attacks on Synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany which foreshadowed the Holocaust and is considered by many its true beginning; and November 29th, the United Nations vote on the Partition of Palestine (1947), which paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel. The Holocaust and the plight of the survivors after the war played an important role in the United Nations vote and the world s perception at that time of a need for a Jewish Homeland. Still, the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was more significantly the culmination of other larger processes and trends in the Jewish world, and survivors made up only a small percentage of Israel s population. Zionism is an expression of the ongoing attachment of Jews to Israel and the centrality of Israel in Jewish prayer and customs. Next year in Jerusalem echoed through the centuries, and it was only when Jews were forcibly banned from Jerusalem, that they were absent. All through the Middle Ages Jews came to live in Israel and as Israel became part of the Ottoman Empire, larger waves came including the mystics who came to Safed in the 16th century. Sephardic Jews made their way to Israel, not just to pray and die, but to establish living communities with business connections throughout the world. The despair that some European Jews felt following the Dreyfus Affair and other evidence that anti-semitism was not disappearing in the modern age led to what we usually identify as the Zionist movement. This desire for a Jewish homeland captured the imagination of both Western and Eastern European Jews. They created the infrastructure under the British Mandate that would later become the government of the state of Israel. The Zionist movement spanned a variety of philosophies but the vast majority were secular and often leaning towards a labor or socialist orientation. The state that was established in 1948 as the culmination of all these trends was a Jewish and democratic state whose Declaration of Independence offered guarantees of equality to its citizens of all religions and nationalities. Through immigration, which especially in the early years was largely from North Africa and Arab countries where Jews were either persecuted or felt insecure, the population became majority Mizrachi (North African or Arab, non-european) and remains so today even after the large immigration of Jews from the Former Soviet Union. Our 21st century is approaching the one fifth mark but it is not clear which of the events we have experienced will turn out to be watersheds. Israel now has more Jews than the United States, what effect will that have on world Jewry? Will the war in Syria, or the passage of the nation-state bill, be seen as a turning point later in this century? May our new century be spared the turbulence of the last and may events take a turn for the positive speedily and in our day. -Rabbi Aron 2 CONGREGATION SHIR HADASH
DID YOU KNOW? A Look at the Chapel s Stained Glass Windows The stained glass windows in the sanctuary and the chapel were created by artist Peter Mollica. The chapel windows were installed in 2001, using a bequest from congregation member Chuck Rubenstein and donations to his Memorial Fund. Commissioned with the theme welcome the stranger, the windows are a wonderful tribute both to Chuck s love of stained glass and to his concern for all people. Peter Mollica spent time on the Rubenstein s patio by the koi pond that Chuck built, reading the memory book from cover to cover that Chuck s wife, Shell, assembled. A vivid impression emerged from this book of a passionate and Nov/Dec s at a Glance 2 9 10 16 17 2 24 0 1 6:45 pm Family Shabbat with Miss Emily 10:0 am Shir Shabbat 10:0 am Shir Shabbat Jr. with Miss Emily 7:0 pm Shabbat with the Band 7:0 pm Shabbat with our Shir Hadash Volunteer Choir 10:0 am Shir Shabbat 10:0 am Shir Shabbat Jr. 7:0 pm Shabbat 10:0 am Shir Shabbat 7:0 pm Shabbat 10:0 am Arabella McDonald Bat Mitzvah 10:0 am Shir Shabbat compassionate man, bright and optimistic. An engineer by profession, he opted to approach even life s hardest problems as challenges to be solved. Chuck was diagnosed with cancer in his early 0 s and radiation treatment brought him into remission, but also left him with progressive debilitation of his speech and his left arm. For the next 0 years he lived with courage and energy despite these limitations, working in Thailand, Okinawa, and Indonesia. His commitment to Judaism ran deep; at Shir Hadash he served on committees and was Treasurer at the time our present property was purchased. The artist s philosophy is to let the observer project their own interpretation onto the windows. Some may imagine many gates welcoming the stranger, tents in the desert, the Temple, a crown, Torah scrolls, a Tallit with its fringes, maybe the huts of Sukkot... but when Shell looks at the windows, she thinks of her koi fish and of Chuck s belief that the lines of communication between people should always be kept open. 7 8 14 15 21 22 28 29 7:00 pm Congregational Hanukkah Family Shabbat 10:0 am Community Shabbat s for Hanukkah 7:0 pm Shabbat s with the Band 10:0 am Shir Shabbat Jr. 10:0 am Shir Shabbat 10:0 am Max Perry & Adin Cone B nai Mitzvah 7:0 pm Shabbat with our Shir Hadash Volunteer Choir 10:0 am Jacob Noymer Bar Mitzvah 10:0 am Shir Shabbat 7:0 pm Shabbat 10:0 am Shir Shabbat Nov-Dec 2018 NOTES
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY DAY URDAY Nov-Dec Please visit www.shirhadash.org for the full calendar. 4 9:00a Holiday Bazaar 9:0a Taste of Instant Hebrew 10:00a Men s Club Board 12:15p New -Age Havurah Event 1:00p Compassion Cultivation Training 5 ELECTION DAY - DON T FORGET TO VOTE! 7:00p Intro to Judaism 7:15p Choir Rehearsal 6 7 10:0a Interfaith Bible Study 1 6:0p Communications Committee 7:0p Leadership 6:00p Community with Miss Emily 6:45p Family Shabbat with Miss Emily 6:45p Erev Shabbat 2 8 9 10:00a Alzheimer s Caregivers Support Group 6:00p Shabbat for Leadership Workshop Reunion 7:0p Shabbat with the Band Jr. w/ Miss Emily 7:0p Adult Ed Havdalah Program: Hollywood & the Jews 10 10:0a Community Shabbat - Israel, Not Politics: Helping Israel s Children and Families 11 9:0a Scientists in Synagogues Program: Does Privacy Matter? 1:00p Compassion Cultivation Training 1:00p Los Gatos Art Association FOR IN-SERVICE DAY 12 1:00p Caring Committee 7:00p Camera Club Los Gatos - Saratoga 1 11:0 Retirees Lunch and Learn 7:15p Choir Rehearsal 14 7:0p Board 15 10:0a Women s Study Class 16 7:0p Shabbat s with Choir CONFIRMATION RETREAT 17 Jr. 5:00p Shir Family Movie Night 18 9:0a Sesame Shul 9:0a Taste of Instant Hebrew 19 9:00a ECC Thanksgiving Feast 7:00p Camera Club Los Gatos - Saratoga 7:00p Los Gatos Interfaith Thanksgiving NO HEBREW SCHOOL 20 NO HEBREW HIGH SCHOOL ECC CLOSES EARLY AT PM 21 22 THANKSGIVING OFFICE & OFFICE & ECC CLOSED 7:0p Shabbat 2 24 25 NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL 26 27 7:00p Intro to Judaism 28 9:00a Assistance League of Los Gatos & Saratoga 29 0 7:0p Shabbat 10:0a Arabella McDonald Bat Mitzvah 1 4 CONGREGATION SHIR HADASH
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY DAY URDAY 2 HANUKKAH (1 CANDLE) 9:00a 2nd Grade Family Ed Program 9:0a Raising Jewish Children: Support for Parents Not Raised Jewish 10:00a Men s Club Brd. Mtg. 10:45a Book Group 9 HANUKKAH (8 CANDLES) 9:0a EWJ Speaker Series: Rabbi Joey Felsen 1:00p Los Gatos Art Association HANUKKAH (2 CANDLES) 7:00p Camera Club Los Gatos - Saratoga 7:45p Adult Ed Commmittee 10 4 HANUKKAH ( CANDLES) 6:00p J-Shaggy (Grades 7-12) Latkepalooza Hanukkah Celebration 7:00p Intro to Judaism 11 11:0a Retirees Lunch and Learn 7:15p Choir Rehearsal 5 HANUKKAH (4 CANDLES) 6:00p Men s Club Latke Party 12 6 HANUKKAH (5 CANDLES) 10:0a Interfaith Bible Study 7:0p Leadership 1 7 HANUKKAH (6 CANDLES) 6:00p Congregational Hanukkah Shabbat 7:00p Congregational Hanukkah Family Shabbat 7:00p Erev Shabbat 14 10:00a Alzheimer s Caregivers Support Group 7:0p Jewish Community Legacy Shabbat with the Band 8 HANUKKAH (7 CANDLES) 10:0a Community Shabbat s for Hanukkah and Jewish Book Month 6:00p Club 45 Hanukkah Party 15 Jr. 10:0a Max Perry & Adin Cone B nai Mitzvah 16 9:0a Sesame Shul 9:0a Congregational 17 7:00p Camera Club Los Gatos - Saratoga 18 7:15p Choir Rehearsal 19 7:0p Board 20 10:0a Women s Study Class 21 10:0a Memoir Writing Class - Legacies 7:0p Shabbat with the Choir 10:0a Jacob Noymer Bar Mitzvah 22 2 NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL NO HEBREW SCHOOL 24 NO HEBREW SCHOOL 25 NO HEBREW HIGH SCHOOL 26 27 28 7:0p Shabbat 29 0 NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL NO HEBREW SCHOOL 1 SAVE THE DATE Upcoming Class: Hebrew through Prayer Monthly starting Sunday, January 1, 9:0 am Join Cantor Devorah Felder-Levy, one Sunday a month, as we read through the prayer book. This class will lead into our Adult B nai Mitzvah program beginning in the fall of 2019. Nov-Dec 2018 NOTES 5
ADULT EDUCATION Retirees Lunch & Learn Tuesday, November 1, 11:0 am Come listen to Mike Lella tell the story of his father, Pino Lella, one of the forgotten heroes of WW2. Based on his story, Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man s incredible courage and resilience during one of history s darkest hours. This book is an Amazon top-seller and is being made into a major motion picture. Our retirees group meets monthly (second Tuesday) for a lecture, discussion, performance, or film. For the program and a light lunch a nominal donation of $5 per person is requested. Please join us! WOMEN S STUDY Contemporary American Jewish Women s Short Stories Thursday, November 15, 10:0 am This year, we explore short stories by contemporary American Jewish women writers, using the book Scribblers on the Roof: Contemporary American Jewish Fiction, edited by Melvin Jules Bukiet and David G. Roskies. For November, further readings of Other People s Deaths by Lore Segal are available. A COMMUNITY SERVICE Los Gatos Interfaith Thanksgiving Tuesday, November 20, 7:00 pm Clergy and lay leaders from eight local congregations will participate in the service, which will also include a joint choir and monetary collection for refugees and a food collection for St. Luke s Food Pantry. The service is open to the entire community and is sponsored by the Los Gatos Interfaith Clergy Group. FOSTERING UNDERSTANDING Interfaith Bible Study Thursday, December 6, 10:0 am Join Rabbi Aron and Father Robert McKay to study the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus in preparation for the spring festivals of Passover and Easter. This exciting story is pivotal in both our faith traditions and discussing it from two different perspectives will bring new richness to our study. The Dec. 6 class will be held at Sacred Heart Church in Saratoga. EWJ SPEAKER SERIES: RABBI JOEY FELSEN Varieties of Orthodox Judaism: From Blu Greenberg to the Satmar Rebbe Sunday, December 9, 9:0 am We often speak about Orthodox Judaism as if it were a single entity, but actually some of the variations within Orthodoxy are quite broad. From participation minyans to Charedi activists, the Orthodox world includes both Sephardim and Ashkenazim, Chassidim and Mitnagdim. Our speaker will be Rabbi Joey Felsen, founder and executive director of the Jewish Study Network, who teaches regularly at our Jewish Community Center. Rabbi Felsen is a recipient of the prestigious Grinspoon- Steinhardt National Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. A JEWISH LENS ON IMPACT INVESTING Jewish Community Legacy Project Shabbat Friday, December 14, 7:0 pm At this evening s service, the Silicon Valley Jewish Community Legacy Project will recognize those who have made legacy pledges to Shir Hadash, the Addison-Penzak JCC, and/or the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley. Our guest speaker will be Julie Hammerman, Executive Director & Founder of JLens Investor Network. All are welcome. 6 CONGREGATION SHIR HADASH
YOUTH AND FAMILY PROGRAMS Emily Aronoff Teck is a Young Family Engagement artist and is our Jewish Music Educator in Residence. Not only is Miss Emily an artist, a musician who recorded several CDs, a blogger, and a mom, you can now also call her Dr. Teck - thanks to her research on Tot Shabbat. She brings joy and music to all her roles. Community and Family with Miss Emily Friday, November 2, 6:00 pm Celebrate Shabbat with your Shir Hadash family and members of our extended Jewish community. A kosher-style Shabbat dinner sponsored by the APJCC will be provided, and will require registration online. Rabbi Schwartz, Rabbi Aron, and our Jewish Music Educator in Residence, Emily Aronoff Teck, will lead a family-friendly Shabbat. Note the change of time of our regular family services: 6:00pm-6:45pm dinner, followed by our Family from 6:45pm-7:0pm. Celebrating with Miss Emily Saturday, November, 10:0 am Join Miss Emily for a special morning Shabbat filled with new and familiar Shabbat songs, stories, and activities! This is a family Shabbat experience for young children (six and under) and their siblings. SHIR SHABBAT JR. A Morning with Rabbi PJ and Song Leader Henry Stern Saturday, November 17, 10:0 am Join Rabbi PJ and song leader Henry Stern for a morning filled with Shabbat songs, stories, and fun! Please note the start time of 9:0 am. Invite your friends! Shir Shabbat is a family Shabbat experience for young children (six and under) and their siblings. SHIR FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT Movie Night Saturday, November 17, 5:00 pm Spend your Saturday evening with your Shir Hadash friends for dinner, and enjoy a kid-friendly movie plus Havdalah service. This event is geared for our families with children in Kindergarten-2nd grade. Do you have a movie suggestion for a great kid-friendly option? If so, please email Rabbi Schwartz. COMMUNITY SHABBAT WITH SPEAKER RUTH GUGGENHEIM Israel, Not Politics: Helping Israel s Children and Families Saturday, November 10, 10:0 am Founded 85 years ago, Emunah Israel is one of Israel s leading social action and welfare organizations, serving 12,000+ individuals daily. It also runs 5 children s homes, where staff provide physical, emotional, educational, and therapeutic support to help the children achieve success and become fully functional and contributing members of Israeli society. Ruth Guggenheim is a resource development coordinator at World Emunah, Israel. Nov-Dec 2018 NOTES 7
Congregation Shir Hadash 20 Cherry Blossom Lane Los Gatos, CA 9502 467 NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID CAMPBELL, CA PERMIT NO. 715 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Eco-friendly paper HANUKKAH Festival of Lights Hanukkah is one of the most fun and delightful Jewish holidays, neck-and-neck with Purim. It is celebrated around the table with family, friends, or the community; and always with plenty of fried foods. Whether your guilty pleasure is sweet or salty, Hanukkah delivers with both sufganiyot and latkes. Candles enchant kids with their rainbow of colors and the dreidel and chocolate gelt top it all. Hanukkah has been spreading joy and light since its inception. Consider Flavius Josephus who participated in the Maccabean revolt, and survived to write a tell-all book about it (any good political upheaval ought to have one). In his book, Josephus refers to the holiday as the Festival of Lights - light being the key. This year, bring your light to Shir Hadash for Hanukkah. Together we will create more joy and light! Congregational Family Hanukkah & with Junior Choir Friday, Dec. 7th: 6:00 pm, 7:00 pm Join your congregational family for our annual Hanukkah dinner and Family with Junior Choir. Members of our Shir Family committee will be on hand during dinner to lead a fun, Hanukkah themed craft for kids up to age 7. Community Shabbat for Hanukkah and Jewish Book Month Saturday, December 8th, 10:0 am Meet authors from our congregational family as we celebrate Jewish Book Month.