I cannot believe that it is now two years since my arrival in Chicago, and that we have wrapped up an-

other year. The Transition Committee ended its work in May, and I want to thank Max Stein, Lilli Scheye, Clive Ka-mins, David Midgley, and Leslie Kay for all of their invaluable work, sup-port, and assistance as I made my transition to KAM Isaiah Israel. Jessica Hassid, our Religious School Director, just started last summer and has fitted in wonderful-ly. Thank you for your work on be-

half of our students. Next year promises to be a year of great change. Thank you to our Religious School Faculty for all the creativity and energy that you bring to teaching our children. Thank you to Fran Gordon and the Nursery School Faculty for mak-ing the KAM Isaiah Israel Nursery School such a wonderful program. Thank you to Abbey Allison, Stewart Martin, and Daryl Ramsey. Stewart joined us this year to become the voice of KAMII, and our voice is definitely a cheerful one. Thank you to all of the administra-tive staff for your support of our diverse programming and educa-tional offerings. Thank you to Roger Drobinige, Corey Caver, Jason Hayes, and Olga Perez. It is not always easy to keep the facility running or heat-ed, thank you for keeping everything in great shape. Thank you also for making our Oneg Shabbats and our shared meals beautiful. Thank you to our Executive Director, Tal Rosen. I can always rely on you to see to all of the details and keep everything humming along. Thank you to Cantor Miriam Eskenasy for your partnership in serv-ing this congregation on the bima, in the classroom, and in pastoral care. Finally, thank you to the lay leadership of KAM Isaiah Israel. The work that you do on behalf of the congregation is holy work. It isn’t always easy work and it isn’t always appreciated. But you have done much to sustain our community and your efforts have laid a founda-tion that will enable us to go from strength to strength. I am honored to serve as your rabbi and to be in partnership with you. Thank you for your labors on behalf of our community.

Volume 41 | Number 10 Summer 2011 | Kayitz 5771

From the Rabbi's Desk

Presidentcontinues on page 3

President's Report One year ago your Board was elected. We had an almost all new executive committee and sig-nificantly new board. Of the 25 members of the Board we have had at least 20 at each board meet-ing this year. This is incredible dedication. The Board has been almost unanimous on most issues and has started a discussion of the current mission and future direction. In July, 2010, we had our third annual Board retreat and invited committee chairs to join the Board. Out of this retreat we developed several projects for the congregation. The most successful to come out of this is Second Saturday. We have had 60 to 70 adults and kids under the age of six spending 2-3 hours playing, talking and eating at the Temple every month. After the High Holidays, we renewed the Can-tor’s contract because of her ruach on the bimah, her dynamic teaching of the b’nai mitzvah students and their families, and her successful music pro-gramming. We sold our cemetery, releasing the congrega-tion of a major future financial responsibility. We have had a successful revitalization of the Caring Committee under the leadership of Ernes-tine Austen and Ruth Geis. We have had a successful revitalization of the Kehillah Committee under the leadership of Matt Cramer. We had very successful scholar in residence weekends sponsored by the Weinstein, Perlmuter, and Wolf committees. While we have had a great Sunday morning lecture series, the last couple of months there have been fewer than ten people present for the talks. We need to consider how to revitalize the attendance. Our Social Justice Committee remains the cen-terpiece of our congregation, running the program on Just and Sustainable Food, under the inspir-ing leadership of Robert Nevel. They have got-ten a grant to reach out to surrounding community churches to help them start their own gardens,

Dear Congregants, When someone tells a very long story, we call it a megilah. Right? When you finally hear the whole story, you hear “die ganze megileh” right? Here is one dictionary’s meaning of the word megillah:megillah - (Yiddish) a long, boring, tediously detailed account; "he insisted on giving us the whole megillah" Also this one: Megillah - (Judaism) the scroll of parchment that contains the biblical story of Esther; traditionally read in synagogues to celebrate Purim But is this the whole megillah? No! Not at all! Yes, a megillah is a scroll, and the scroll of Esther is one of them but it is not die ganze megileh! In truth, five such scrolls have been included in the

Bible; aside from Esther, we also have Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and the Song of Songs. Each one of these megillot is chanted/read at different holidays of the year. Do you know which scroll is chanted when? Here are the holidays and their scrolls: Sukkot Ecclesiastes Passover Song of Songs Shavuot Ruth 9th of Av (Tisha b’av) Lamentations (Eicha) Purim Esther Do you ever wonder why we chant the Song of Songs on Passover? Or Ruth on Shavuot? Do you ever wonder what is Tisha b’av? When I was young, it used to mean “never” or “in a very, very long time!” Such as “When are you going to clean your room?” might be answered, “On Tisha b’av!” I had no idea what it was or when it was…. But now I do! And it happens in August. The ninth day of Av is the day we commemorate and lament the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem . To mark the day, some of us fast, we mourn, and we read the scroll of Lamen-tations (sitting on the floor). Also, now I know that “Tisha b'av” really means the ninth day of the month of Av. In August, I will teach a five-session course on the five scrolls, their story, and their music as well as the special way to chant them (time permitting). If you are in town, and want to deepen your understanding of our Festivals and Tisha b’av and Purim, come on Tuesdays at 12 noon in the month of August (August 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30) and we will study in a relaxed fun way a little part of our bible, the five megillot.

2 KAMII

Notes from the Cantor

August 2 - The Scroll of RuthAugust 9 - The Scroll of Lamentations (EICHA)August 16 - The Scroll of EstherAugust 23 - The Scroll of Song of Songs (Shir

Hashirim)August 30 - The Scroll of Ecclesiastes

Music happenings at KAMII……

This coming year we have lots of music activities planned with lots and lots of people…. the big event will be Max Janowski’s centennial on January 29th, but there will be others as well! I really, REALLY want to get KAMII singing! We have a wonderful adult choir, but we need more people, especially men! Working on the Board, or the Finance Committee is very im-portant work to be sure, but singing in KAMII adult choir is as impor-tant, because it brings a different dimension to our worship and it beautifies our services. In addition, as a choir member, you get to learn more about our liturgy, about our music, in depth! Consider joining our choir this year. We will start working in mid August; first on the High Holidays where our choir par-ticipates on Rosh Hashanah morn-ing, and later on the Centennial music which will be mostly the mu-sic of Max Janowski. Please drop me a line if you

1) Can sing adequately enough (can carry a tune)

2) Enjoy singing with others

3) Are interested in joining our Adult choir

I promise the rehearsals will not be too taxing on your already busy schedules and I guarantee that you will have fun! We accept members from 15 years old and up!

My email: meskenasy@kamii.org

B'shira,Cantor Miriam

Have a great summer!

B’shira ,

Cantor Miriam

3SuMMer 2011

Treasurer's Report

Fellow congregants, staff and clergy, Shabbat Shalom.

As treasurer of the congregation, I have the responsibility to report to you about the financial health of our congregation. This is the end of my third year on the KAMII board. For the two years prior to becoming treasurer this year, I was a member of the finance committee and therefore have followed the con-gregation’s finances for several years. It is no secret that KAMII has been experiencing difficult fi-nancial times for awhile. And this year is no different. We will once again end the year with a deficit. This situation cannot continue indefinitely. As treasurer I have the unenviable job of leading the crusade to reduce the deficit. As revenues are less certain, this tends to be done by cutting costs. As in prior years in order to attempt to trim expenses, the entire board had to make hard decisions and look at all areas of the congregation. For example, Kol Sasson was reduced from six programs to four. There will not be an organ at High Holiday services but a piano instead; there will still be eight singers. Only one Torah scroll will be repaired instead of the three which need repair. The religious school director has had to take on more responsibili-ties, board members are being asked to self-fund any workshops they attend, and the administration office has been reduced by .25 FTEs. There are others, but this gives you an idea. Now I understand that these reductions are disappointing, yet responsible financial management is being applied. I know everyone has their favorite programs. But I implore you not to start writing checks for your pet project; write a check, if you are so inclined, for the congregation as a whole. You have chosen lay leaders to make these decisions so therefore you need to trust these decisions. I can assure you they have been made with much thought, deliberation, and agony. On the brighter side, the fiscal management of the con-gregation has significantly improved during the recent past. Paula Worthington, my predecessor, did an amazing job dig-ging through things and figuring out what was what. This year we focused on information gathering, reporting and operating as one congregation instead of separate programs.

A few things that we did this year were:• Revised the accounting system to more effectively gather

data allowing for a clearer understanding of where we are financially so we can know where we need to go.

• Providedafullsetoffinancialstatementstotheboardinclud-ing a balance sheet, a statement of revenue and expenses and a cash flow projection.

• Replacedanantiquatedmemberdatabasewithonethatal-lows for more flexible information gathering and reporting as well as integrates with our web site.

• Hiredanewaccountingfirm toperformaReviewonourfinancial statements instead of the compilation which was done in the past. This will provide more assurance about the financial reporting.

• Broughttogetherallprograms/fundcommitteestotalkaboutleveraging our finances for the good of the whole and sched-uling so congregants can attend all the programs they would like without overload.

In addition, we had a very active, supportive, and engaged finance committee and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their service and counsel. And last, but certainly not least, we had and have Tal Rosen, our executive Director, who has the financial acumen to main-tain and continue to improve the necessary financial manage-ment. In essence, we have set ourselves up to be proactive, not reactive, which is an important step to becoming fiscally sound. And therefore fellow congregants, staff, and clergy, I am confident that I leave you in good hands. I am sure with your support, confidence and help, our new treasurer, Ron Bauer, along with the executive committee and board, will continue to move forward. Remember this is “our” congregation and it takes everyone’s help in any way you can to continue the rich traditions, vibrant programming and warm atmosphere. Finally, I would like to thank all the lay leaders with whom I have worked. You have made it a stimulating and enjoyable experience.

KAMII AnnuAL MEETIngJune 3, 2011 Submitted by Beth E. Saks

and carry on a discussion of sustainable food for the poor. KAM Isaiah Israel has been recognized by the URJ’s Religious Action Center with a Fein Award for our work, the highest honor for a social ac-tion project given by the Reform Move-ment. We also now have a better under-standing of our membership numbers and realize that we only have 352 pay-

ing member units. Of this group, almost 40% are on dues relief. I presented a challenge to the congre-gation to have members make three-year pledges so that we could ensure our finan-cial stability. We had almost no takers. Our finances continue to run on a tight ship, starving the building of adequate capital, and only running a $40,000 defi-cit. Our future problem is that we will run out of cash flow in the next two years and not be able to pay our spring bills because we are no longer able to get swing loans

in this new economy. We are looking at alternative financing. The leadership of your congregation has started a conversation with Rodfei Ze-dek to discuss how, together, we can revi-talize our Jewish community. You will be hearing more about this in the future.

Daniel P. Mass, President

Presidentcontinued from page 1

4 KAMII

Nursery School

The summer is full of fun at the nursery school. If you stop by the temple this summer, you might see an active group of 17 preschoolers happily playing on the play-

ground. The children love their little swimming pools and the sandbox filled with great new toys. The children play catch, climb on the jungle gym, and draw on the sidewalk with chalk.They are also interested in nature. The world is filled with won-derful excitement for young children. There is nothing better than going on a worm hunt or caring for our own flower box garden. Blowing bubbles is always a treat, as well as painting with water. The children love to ask questions and are eager to learn about their environment. The classroom walls are filled with beautiful posters showing birds, trees, mushrooms, fish, butterflies, and native flowers of Illinois. The setting makes you feels as if you are in a forest preserve. Every day we walk to the temple’s vegetable garden and check on the growth of the vegetables. The first things to grow were the lettuce and radishes. It was amazing to watch the red radishes pushing their way out of the ground. The plants looked healthy and everyone wanted to eat radishes. We served them for snack but the children preferred our wild mint. I wanted to share with you comments that the children had the last week of school. They were asked what they liked the most about school.

My Favorite things at school this year Was…

the field trip to the fire house! – linus

going to the fire station. – anne

going to the fire station and i loved doing the crafts. – Margot

Doing crafts! the butterflies were my favorite. – alice

Playing with the trains in the classroom. – issac

i like playing with the trains. – nicholas

Playing games downstairs and outside with the ball. i have 1,000 trophies. – Malcolm

running around at the potluck with my best friends Malcolm, evan, and asher. – george

My favorite thing was going to the fire house. the play dough table was also my favorite thing and the drawing table. – sage

Playing in the sandbox was my favorite thing. – Benjamin

i loved painting. i painted race cars. – ellen

My favorite thing was playing with the trains. – evan

Playing with my friends and painting and going down to shabbat and going outside! – nadia

going down to shabbat and going outside to run around and slide down the slide! i also loved going to the fire station! – Maddie

My favorite thing is the sandbox and airplanes. - aidan

i liked playing with everyone. – vincent

i liked eating at lunch Bunch and going to the fire station. – eliot

i like to play with my friends. – Kate

My favorite thing is the end of school when my mommy picks me up. – leo

My favorite thing was playing with Matthew outside. – graham

i like the trains the best and i love my Mom. – sore

i like playing with graham outside. – Matthew

i like cooking. – scarlett

i love playing with the monster trucks. – noah

i like learning about the planets. – ava

i like when we do art projects and playing with Miriam. – samantha

Playing with samantha and doing the projects with her is what i like. – Miriam

i like when my mom drops me off at school and i like playing with my friends. – emma

i like the tow trucks and the garbage trucks. – spencer

5SuMMer 2011

Nursery School Each family was given a chance to fill out a questionnaire to evaluate the school. This is a tool for us to keep trying to improve the school. I want to share their comments with you.

• Awesome program. If I had to do it all over again I would go back to KAM and had all my children experi-ence what my youngest child had experienced!

• Our daughter had a great time this year. She really en-joys going to Temple each week and taking a book home each day.

• Changes I would like to see: going outside more often, especially on sunny winter days or cooler spring days; no juice at snacks (more fresh fruits and veggies; would be willing to pay more for this).

• Excellent program!

• Thank you so much for helping Anne develop as a young student and person over this time. We will miss KAMII greatly, but you have provided our whole family with such a good foundation for Anne’s next steps.

• Just what we were looking for our child’s first “school” experience – a loving, relaxed environment where my son was free to flourish and explore. Flexible, open

to parent involvement. My son loves going to school – wanted to go 5 days instead of 3, wanted to stay for lunch bunch, didn’t want to leave.

• Teacher/parent communication could improve.

• Teachers should listen more to parents (but sometimes I get impression that is unrealistic because have hands full with managing the classroom).

• We love all the art, but I would like to see more “science” in the classroom, more hands-on experiments like plant-ing seeds, etc.

• Parents of kids who are doing well don’t hear enough from the teachers.

We are accepting registrations for the fall nursery school and parent toddler classes. Please set up an appointment to visit. I am delighted to let you know all Jewish families enter-ing their first child in preschool are eligible for a scholarship from the Jewish United Fund.

Fran Gordon, Nursery School Director

The board met on May 9 and heard a very exciting proposal from Religious School Director Jessica Hassid and the Religious School committee chair Ed-die Sices. They proposed transforming the Wednesday Hebrew School lesson into an individualized one-on-one on-line tutoring session with their Hebrew teacher. While the one-on-one tutoring will be shorter than the hour of Hebrew school it will be more intense, and it will also be supplemented by an online curriculum. By meeting on Sunday for their Hebrew lesson, classroom continu-ity and community will be maintained. Furthermore those students who have not been able to get to the Synagogue on Wednesdays will be kept up to date with their class. After hearing the pre-sentation the Board voted to give the go-ahead to this new program which will be called Ivrit @ Home.

Rabbi Appel announced to the board that University of Chicago Divinity school has asked her and the rest of the KAMII staff to accept an intern for 15 to 20 hours a week during the next academic year. The Rabbi will provide supervision as will oth-er members of the staff and leadership. The purpose of the internship is to learn how a synagogue actually operates. The Rabbi also informed the board that she is beginning to plan a trip to Israel and that there was a preliminary meeting in May. Anyone who is interested in going on such a trip should please get in touch with Rabbi Appel.

After a very informative presentation by Tal Rosen the board passed the budget for next year.

President Dan Mass reported that a sub-committee of our executive committee

is meeting with a subcommittee of the Rodfei Zedek executive committee to talk about synergies that might be ob-tained by sharing some resources and coordinating calendars. It appeared that some progress in reaching decisions about how this can be carried out has been made.

President Mass also announced that there will be a leadership retreat on July 31 which will focus on where and what our congregation is and what our mis-sion statement should be. The retreat will be moderated by Rabbi Fine of the URJ and all members of the board and all committee chairs will be in attendance.

Respectfully submittedAlan S. Berger,

Secretary

Notes from the Board

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Confirmation took place on Fri-day, May 13. The confirmands Ben Meyer, Hannah Resnick

and Ethan Selisky led the service and each student thoughtfully presented their thoughts about their Jewish identity. The entire evening was full of warmth, and it was shared by many congregations, parents, siblings, friends, teachers and clergy. Mazel Tov to all! Teacher Appreciation Shabbat was also celebrated in May. The teachers were honored and they participated in the service as well. The feelings of grati-tude and pride in our teachers’ work were clear to all who were present. Luck-ily, most of the teachers will be returning again next year. However, there are a couple who will not be joining us again. I would like to thank Aviva Llorens, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten teacher for all her hard work this year and for her dedication to Sunday School for the past few years. Adam Kander, as our song leader, brought great energy and joy to Sunday School and will be missed as well. We are very excited to welcome our new teachers for next school year. Dani-elle Weinberg will be our second grade teacher, and many of the students know her because she often substituted last year. Danielle went to the University of Michi-gan and got her Bachelors degree from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel. She is presently seeking her gradu-ate degree at the University of Chicago in Middle Eastern Studies. Danielle is very experienced, having taught as a Religious School teacher at several synagogues and has served as an education fellow at the American Hebrew Academy. Nicholas Liebman will be our new song leader. Nick graduated from Butler University and has a Masters of Music in Music Composition from Jordan College of Fine Arts School of Music. He also works as a Program Director at Hillels Around Chicago and as a Jewish mu-sic specialist at the Chicago Jewish Day School. We are very excited to welcome him and learn many new songs this year!

Jessica HassidReligious School Director

8 KAMII

Religious School

We are looking forward to another wonderful year at Religious School. Please keep the following important dates in mind:

Sunday, September 25First Day of Religious School

Thursday, September 29First Day of Rosh Hashanah

Saturday, October 8Yom Kippur Day

Wednesday, October 12Erev Sukkot

Wednesday, October 19Simchat Torah/Consecration

February 10 – 13Confirmation Trip to Washington, D.C.

February 17-195th/6th Grade Family Retreat to OSRUI

C O N F I r M AT I O N C L A S S O F 2 0 1 1Shown with rabbi Appel, Cantor eskanasy and Jessica Hassid, religious School Director

9SuMMer 2011

Religious School

I can’t believe my first school year at KAM Isaiah Israel is coming to an end. It has been a very busy year, full of adjust-

ment for many, including myself. I would like to give a huge thanks to all our teach-ers, madrichim, and staff. I was lucky to start out with such a sup-portive and wonderful faculty. The teach-ers were patient, helpful, and ready to start off a great school year. No matter what I asked of them, they were accommodating. They came full of knowledge and excite-ment, and provided an atmosphere of Jew-ish learning and fun for our students. Our teachers know how important our children are to the future of Judaism, and they made a huge commitment to nurture their young Jewish identities. In addition, our clergy played a big role in the school, filling the classrooms with knowledge and music. Many of our older students volunteered

their time on Sunday morning as mad-richim, before they started their own class-es at 11. Even more amazingly, we had a couple of juniors, who are post Confirma-tion, and they came to help even though they did not have to come to KAMII for their own classes. The teachers really ap-preciated the madrichim, especially know-ing how busy our students can be these days. Their dedication is truly remarkable. Things would not have been so smooth without all the help of all the support staff including the executive director, the admin-istrative staff, the nursery school staff (with whom we share many rooms), and the maintenance staff. They were behind the scenes making sure everything ran smooth-ly, and were happy and willing to help with a kind heart and smile. I would also like to thank everyone who gave their time and energy to be on the

School Committee. The School Commit-tee provides a venue for discussing school issues and those of other school-related programs. The partnership is important to the school’s success. Thank you to all the committee members for being extremely supportive to our school. I hope everyone keeps up with their Hebrew over the summer and finds some time to celebrate Shabbat and holidays. We have many students who are going to Jewish camps. We wish them an incredible time and hope they bring back their enthu-siasm and Jewish knowledge to share with us next fall. Please register your children for religious school if you have not done so yet. We have lots of new plans for next school year. I am wishing everyone an enjoyable and safe summer!

Jessica HassidReligious School Director

SPECIAL AuguST BIRTHDAYSJane Stolowich, August 3; Millicent Martinek, August 7; Mark Mandle, August 10; Larry gill, August 12; Yuri Lane, August 12; gretel Lowinsky, August 15; Victor Borrero, August 18; Laura Di giantonio, August 21; Carol Bekenstein, August 22; Juliette Porges, August 24; Bud Lifton, August 26; Ronna Lerner, August 27

SPECIAL AuguST AnnIVERSARIESBob and Carla goldberg, August 3, 15 years; David and Rebecca Rubin, August 4, 15 years; Leslie Stulberg and Jerry Levy, August 18, 10 years; Fabian and Marlene necheles, August 27, 50 years; Herbert and Mary Biblo, August 28, 61 years; Richard and Lauren Miller, August 29, 30 years

SPECIAL SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYSLisa Rosen, September 1; Charlotte Lehnhoff, Septem-ber 4; Jerry Solomon¸ September 4; Brian grossman, September 6; Michael Rosen, September 7; Julia Miller, September 10; Paul Singer, September 12; Elise Wach-spress, September 13; Johanna Schoss, September 14; Pei Chung, September 18; Howard Cohn, September 19; Michael gelber, September 24; Zoe Stein, September 25; Philip gossett, September 27

SPECIAL SEPTEMBER AnnIVERSARIESBarbara and Bernard greenberg, September 1, 62 years; Rachel Havrelock and Yuri Lane, September 2, 10 years; Robert and Marsha Rosner, September 5, 40 years; Joel and Frances Zemans, September 11, 45 years; Abner and Zoe Mikva, September 19, 63 years; Jena Doolas and Samuel Borries, September 29, 10 years

SPECIAL JunE BIRTHDAYSgerald grusin, June 1; Victor Margolin, June 3; Diane Silverman, June 4; Liane Clorfene Casten, June 12; Charles Sklarsky, June 13; James Herst, June 15; Donald Levine, June 16; grace Avery-gross, June 16; Karen Bloomberg, June 18; Alison gross, June 18; Andrew gelman, June 20; Marlene necheles, June 24; Lillian Eckstein, June 24; Rhonda Feren, June 26; Joel Zemans, June 28; Mardi Trosman, June 29; Robert Wagner, June 29

SPECIAL JunE AnnIVERSARIESEmily Lifton and William Herman, June 9, 20 years; Richard and Sissie Evans, June 11, 50 years; gloria and Allen needlman, June 18, 61 years; David and Janet Midgley, June 19, 45 years; Samuel and Paula golden, June 20, 63 years; William Meadow and Susan goldin-Meadow, June 20, 40 years; Harry and Mardi Trosman, June 22, 59 years; Jay Dobrutsky and Barbara green, June 23, 20 years; Benjamin Fine and Julia getzels, June 23, 20 years; Harold and Deloris Sanders, June 24, 55 years; Robert and Ellen Rosen, June 26, 40 years; Paul and Susan Freehling, June 27, 50 years; Daniel and Lenore Mass, June 27, 40 years; Marvin and Betty goldberg, June 29, 65 years

SPECIAL JuLY BIRTHDAYSFabian necheles, July 2; Meryl Domina, July 3; Jeffrey gosset, July 9; Corinne Siegel-gerson, July 11; Betty goldberg, July 13; Rebecca Kirstein, July 13; Syma Katz, July 15; William newman, July 15; natalie Weil, July 16; Raya Avichai, July 17; Jason Coe, July 17; Mark Stern, July 21; Janet Surkin, July 21; Jean Comaroff, July 22; Alfred Heller, July 23; Anne Hyman, July 23; Jonathan Rosner, July 23; Walter Sobel, July 25; Marc garfinkel, July 26; Paula golden, July 27; Claire Kohrman, July 27; Sarita Warshawsky, July 27; Daila Shefner, July 29; Stephen Meyers. July 30; Joseph Heyman, July 30; Paul goldstein, July 31

SPECIAL JuLY AnnIVERSARIESMitchell glickman and Samantha Feinberg, July 3, 5 years; Sol and grace newman, July 3, 56 years; Robert and gloria Yufit, July 7, 54 years; Jennifer Helen Kay and John Lord, July 20, 20 years

10 KAMII

In the FamilyBy Grace Wolf

yxxx Newsworthy "Southern Culture on the Skids," an article by Ben Aus-ten about NASCAR that appeared in Harper's magazine last October, has been selected to be included in Best American Travel Writing, to be published next October by Houghton Mifflin. Ben is the son of Ernestine and Ralph Austen. On May 1, Leora Auslander spoke at Congregation Solel in Highland Park. Her topic was "Is There a Jewish Relation-ship to the Senses? Material Culture and Embodiment in Ger-many and France 1890-1930." The lecture discussed "Jewish taste" and the furnishings of Jewish homes in Germany and France during the years preceding World War II. Leora is a professor of Modern European Social History at the Univer-sity of Chicago. On Tuesday, May 17, "Divine Detection: Crime and the Metaphysics of Disorder" was the topic of the annual Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture, given by Jean Comaroff at the U of C. Jean is a U of C professor of anthropology. It was interesting to hear Cantor Miriam Eskenasy on WBEZ on April 14. On the program Eight Forty-Eight, Alison Cuddy interviewed Cantor Miriam about what a cantor does. Miriam also talked about her family background and how moving to the United States led her to become more involved in Jewish synagogue life and eventually to become trained as a cantor. The annual Robert H. Kirschner, M.D., Memorial Human Rights Lecture was held on Thursday, June 2, at 7:00 p.m. at International House. This year's speaker was John Conroy, author of Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life and Unspeak-able Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture. His subject will be "Rage Against the Machine: Torture, Bystand-ers and the Failure of Journalism." This lecture series honors the life and work of Bob Kirschner, late husband of Barbara Kirschner and father of Daniel Kirschner. Bob was a not-ed forensic pathologist and a founder of the U of C Human Rights Program. On April 19, Donald Levine, U of C sociology professor and devotee of Aikido, presented a Viola-Do Workshop to-gether with Masumi Per Rostad, violist of the Pacifica Quartet. The workshop focused on the parallels between playing viola the Aiki Way. On April 26, our Social Justice Committee chairman, Rob-ert nevel, participated in an interfaith panel at the Lutheran School of Theology as part of a celebration of Earth Year. The panel discussed "Interfaith Perspectives on Environmen-tal Justice and Sustainability." On May 22, Martha nussbaum delivered the commence-ment address and received an honorary degree at Mount Holyoke College. Martha teaches law and ethics and many other subjects at the U of C. Mount Holyoke president Lynn Pasquerella said about her: "Martha provides one of the clear-

est and most compelling voices in support of both liberal edu-cation and women's education as a means of promoting social justice through participatory democracy." Friends of Hank Webber and Chris Jacobs, who moved from Hyde Park to St. Louis in 2008, will be saddened to learn of the April 18 death of Hank's mother, Rae Webber, at the age of 90. In April, President Barack Obama announced that he in-tended to nominate Robert Zimmer as a member of the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation. President of the U of C since 2006, Bob is a specialist in the mathematical fields of geometry. The June 27 Chicago Tribune reported that Daniel Kirschner has been made a partner at Corboy & Demetrio, a law firm where he has worked since 1998. A student of Susan Levitin, Demarre McGill, has been named principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, effective in September. Last January, Rabbi Rachel Mikva was one of the leaders of a study tour to Israel sponsored by the Chicago Theological Seminary. Writing in the CTS publication Tower News, she reported, "We strove to see, hear, learn and experience as much as possible: the layers of Jewish, Christian and Mus-lim history speaking out from every stone, and the voices of the people who live there today striving to make their stories heard." Rabbi Mikva is the Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman As-sistant Professor of Jewish Studies at CTS. A recent Washington Post article described some recently developed genetic tests that can help identify which sports children are likely to excel in. Among the many critical experts quoted in the article was Lainie Friedman Ross: "'This is re-ally disturbing,' Lainie Friedman Ross, a pediatrician and bio-ethicist at the University of Chicago, told the Post. 'Sports and physical activity should be fun for kids. It shouldn't be, "You're going to be the world's greatest athlete" or "Give up now, kid, because you won't have a chance" because of your genes.'" Sarah-Anne and John Schumann are moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August, together with their children, Noa and Jesse. John will be Associate Director of the Internal Medi-cine Residency Program at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa School of Community Medicine. Sarah-Anne will be Assistant Dean for Community Medicine at the same school. The July issue of the Detroit Jewish News printed a lovely article about Rabbi Ariana Jaffe Silverman, daughter of Ki-neret Jaffe and Mort Silverman. The title of the article is "She's Saving Souls Including Motown's: Temple Kol Ami's Ariana Jaffe Silverman brings spiritual and environmental ac-tivism to Detroit."

Familycontinues on page 13

11SuMMer 2011

In the CommunityBy Grace Wolf

yxxx Do You Belong to the PJ Library? An article in the May JUF News about a national decline in reading for pleasure talks about the PJ Library, which provides free books each month to families with children aged 6 months to 8 years. Philanthropist Harold Grinspoon had a vision of helping Jewish families connect with their heritage by reading to their children from beautiful picture books that articulate Jewish culture, customs, and values. Now these books go into 100,000 homes in North America and Israel. The largest pro-gram in the U.S. is here in Chicago. For more information, visit www.pjlibrary.org.

yxxx YIVO Summer Festival Continues On Wednesday, August 3, at 6:00 p.m., YIVO's Summer Festival of Yiddish Culture will sponsor a documentary film, In Search of Yiddish, at the Harold Washington Library Center's Video Theater, 400 S. State Street. The film tells the story of singer-songwriter and poet Alexander Gorodnitsky's visit to Belarus to trace his ancestry and search for the remnants of Yiddish culture in former centers of Jewish life. On Thursday, August 11, at the Skokie Public Library, at 12:15 p.m., Rabbi Barry Schechter will speak on Yiddish and Laughter. The library is located at 5215 Oakton Street, Skokie. On Thursday, August 18, at 6:00 p.m. at the Harold Wash-ington Library Center, Jan Huttner will give the third of her an-nual lectures on "Fiddler on the Roof": Hodel--From Sofievka to Siberia. On Monday, August 29, at 12:15 p.m., at the Evanston Public Library, Northwestern professor Irwin Weil will speak on Russian Jewish Culture. The library is located at 1703 Orrington, Evanston. All these programs are free and open to the public.

yxxx What's Jewish About Downtown Chicago? On Sunday, August 14, the Chicago Jewish Historical Society is sponsoring Downtown Chicago Strut. Marshall Jacobson and Leah Axelrod will help you explore the ways Chicago Jews have contributed to the growth of downtown Chicago. Highlights will include a tour of the Auditorium The-atre, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan; a visit to the Pritzker Military Library; and a look inside the Aqua, an 82-story residential tower and hotel near Lake Michigan. The tour bus will leave the Bernard Horwich JCC, 3003 W. Touhy Avenue, at 11:15 a.m., and the Marriott Hotel, 540 N. Michigan Avenue, at 11:45 a.m. Bring a snack as the tour will not stop for lunch. The fee is $42 for CJHS members, $47 for nonmembers. Make checks payable to Chicago Jew-ish Historical Society and mail to Leah Axelrod, 2100 Linden Avenue, Highland Park, IL 60035. If you have questions, you can contact her at 847.432.7003.

yxxx Join Muslim Neighbors During Their Holy Month The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and Temple Sholom invite Jewish community members to Iftar in the Synagogue, a unique interfaith gathering during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Held on Thursday, August 18, 6:00 - 9:30 p.m., at Temple Sholom, 3480 N. Lake Shore Drive, the evening will include Jewish prayers, Muslim prayers, speakers, conversa-tion, and a kosher/halal dinner. The theme for discussion is "Diverse Experiences; A Common Future." The event is free, but you need to RSVP. Go to www.jcua.org and click on the link to Iftar in the Synagogue.

SAVE THE DATE

WEInSTEIn COMMITTEE WEEKEnD will be november 18, 19, 20

The title of the weekend will be "The Shapes of the Jewish Imagination." Professor David Stern from the University of Pennsylvania will speak at the end of services on Friday on an Introduction to Midrash; on Saturday morning at 12:45 after a lunch following services on One Story, Three Reli-gions; and on Sunday morning at 10:30 on The Books of the 'People of the Book.' Details will follow.

12 KAMII

Social Justice Committee

Our KAMII Food Justice and Sustainability Program was one of the 17 winners of the

Irving J. Fain Social Action Award. The award, which is given out every other year, was presented to Dan Mass, Rabbi Appel, and me by Marzy Bauer and Dr. Cheryl Gutmann.

The award certificate text is as follows.

Presented by the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism,

a joint instrumentality of the Union for Reform Judaism, its affiliates and the Central

Conference of American Rabbis, to KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, Illinois, for its exemplary social justice program Food Justice

and Sustainability Program.

“And seek the well-being of the city in which you dwell...

for in its peace you shall findpeace.” - Jeremiah 29.7

Each of this year’s 17 winners is characterized by a focused and hands on initiative. Three dealt with at risk youth by providing meals, tutoring, organizing book fairs and coat drives and funding supplies and field trips. Eight others involved an array of programs from tutoring English as a second language, to working with troops in Georgia, creating a Jew-ish/Muslim dialogue program, help-ing in a home for those with special needs, Gulf Coast relief work, elder care, job search assistance and work-ing with incarcerated mothers. Two programs worked on hunger by way of a soup kitchen and food delivery to homebound seniors. And finally, four programs focused on the environ-ment and food justice. One congrega-tion promoted responsible electronic

waste recycling, another a monthly environmental movie/speaker night, a third worked to make their building more energy efficient, participated in consumer-sponsored agriculture and began composting.

And the fourth, in this category, is our KAMII program, “The Ongoing Pur-suit of Equal and Affordable Access to Healthy Food and Environmentally Re-sponsible and Sustainable Land Use.” Our program is focused on growing and donating organic food to those in need in our community through our KAMII gardens, collecting and distrib-uting otherwise unharvested food from local community gardens through our White Rock Gleaning Program, trans-forming congregational lawns into food producing gardens through Crop Mob Constructions, educating and ad-vocating for food justice and sustain-able land use through our annual Mar-tin Luther King, Jr. Weekend Program and finally, on working together with our larger community on food and en-vironmental issues through community and interfaith outreach.

Each of the Fain Award winning pro-grams is inspiring. Congratulations to all. But as chair of the KAMII Social Justice Committee I am especially proud of ours. In awe I am of the ex-traordinary effort and commitment, the long hours of very hard work, our many volunteers put in over the last two and a half years constructing food producing gardens, growing food, tending to the land, gleaning, deliver-ing food to those in need in our com-munity and educating and advocating for food justice and sustainable land use. This is an honor that the more than 100 volunteers (KAMII members and non members), the clergy and staff of KAMII and the Congregation as a whole has earned, working together repairing our world. Thank you all.

Robert NevelChair,

KAMII Social Justice Committee

REPORT On THE FAIn AWARD

13SuMMer 2011

yxxx Honorees Among Us On June 23, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs hon-ored Ralph Brown and David Midgley at its Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner. At its 15th anniversary celebration on June 1, the Neighborhood Writing Alliance honored Deborah Ep-stein and its other founders. The University of Chicago Law School's Class of 2011 presented its Graduating Stu-dents Class Award to Saul Levmore for his outstanding contributions to improving the quality of student life and the spirit of community at the school. He has received the honor for the past two years. The University of Chicago Law School's Charles Lipson has been awarded a Quantrell Award for Excellence in Un-dergraduate Teaching at the University of Chicago, where he is a professor of political science. Keith Moffat has received the 2011 Patterson Award of the American Crystallographic Association. Students at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago have selected Paula Worthington as Best Teacher in a Non-Core Course for the 2010-11 academic year. This is the sixth time she has received that honor in seven years.

yxxx Welcoming a New Generation Congratulations to Lynn Frackman and Tom Meites on the birth of their first grandchild. Mia Lynn Meites was born on June 28 to Sam and Celina Meites. Mia and her parents live in Santa Monica, California.

yxxx Under the Chupah Mazal tov to Cantor Miriam Eskenasy, whose daughter, Carin Miller, was married to Matthew Packwood on July 23 in Ashford, Washington. The wedding took place in a 150-year-old lodge at the foot of Mount Rainier. Carin is the principal bassoon in the Oregon Symphony. Matthew produces a radio show of 20th-century American classical music. The newlyweds live in Portland, Oregon.

yxxx Please Submit Your Stories We enjoy reading about the experiences and achievements of our fellow congregants and their families, but we need your help in reporting them. It's ok to brag a little: your friends will share your pleasure. Please send stories for In the Family to Grace Wolf at wolf0047@earthlink.net or 773.684.0047--or drop them off for me at the synagogue office.

Familycontinued from page 10

We are looking for people to serve as ushers for the High Holidays to help hand out prayerbooks and col-lect tickets. Please contact the office at 773.924.1234 or kamii@kamii.org if you’d like to help out. Thank you!

EDITOR’S nOTE:

The next bulletin deadline is: Friday, August 5th for the September issue

Please send your event notices, articles and photos to Charlie at charlie@firke.com and Phyllis Cohn at phyllis.cohn@gmail.com.

-- Charlie Firke, bulletin editor

USHERSNEEDED

14 KAMII

TributesWe thank all contributors for their generosity and support of our synagogue family.

(Contributions received April 6th - July 21st are listed)

general Fund Rhonda Feren In Memory of Aida Berenson Tina and Peter Weil In Honor of Lydia Elieff’s Bat Mitzvah Richard D. Kohn In Honor of Joe and Deborah Eppstein’s Wedding Jerry I. Solomon In Honor of Richard Hanauer’s Bar Mitzvah Jan Huttner and Richard B. Miller In Honor of Andrew Chizewer’s Bar Mitzvah Harold Chizewer In Honor of Jacqui Sanders’ Special Birthday Murray and Anne Foss In Memory of Irma Krizack Bernard and Barbara Greenberg

Jacob J. Weinstein Fund Donna Katzin

Memorial Yahrzeits In Memory of Her Mother, Esther B. Bass Susan Bass Marcus In Memory of Jesse R. Carter Shirley Carter In Memory of Martin and Gretel Hayman Jerry and Susan Levine In Memory of Sarah Kriloff Jerry and Susan Levine In Memory of Eve Levine Jerry and Susan Levine In Memory of Julia Mond Nathalie Weil In Memory of Morris and Eleanor Schlessinger Dr. Nathan Schlessinger In Memory of Ruth P. Silverman David Cramer and Susan Stodolsky In Memory of Mykei Williams Lisa Williams In Memory of Lewis Winer Jerome and Inge Winer In Memory of Eula Carter Shirley Carter

In Memory of Henry Broch Jerry and Susan Levine In Memory of Robert Mann Sylvia Mann In Memory of Carol Simon Solomon Jerry Solomon

Prayer Book Fund Ernestine Austen Alan Berger Mark Mandle Bonnie Wishne In Honor of Joanna Cohen’s Bat Mitzvah Alan Berger Charlotte Lehnhoff & Bernard Levy

Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund In Memory of Irene Goldman Judith and Daniel Goldman

Rabbi Hayim goren Perelmuter Fund In Memory of Rabbi H. G. Perelmuter Eugene and Beatrice Friedman Ronald M. Friedman

ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAMay their memory be a blessing

We rememberAida Berenson, mother of Rebecca Kirstein (Isaac) and

Ruthie Berenson, grandmother of Melissa and Sophie Zamojcin and Jacob and Matthew Kirstein

Terry Rader, wife of David Rader

We extend condolences toLarry Joseph on the death of his mother, Edna

Karen Martin on the death of her grandmother, Ida KnightRobert Yufit on the death of his sister, Beverly Pollock

15SuMMer 2011

KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation Tribute Funds

Donor __________________________________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________

I/We contribute $ ______________________ Date ______________________________

Acknowledge to __________________________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________

In Honor Of _______________________________________________________

In Memory Of ______________________________________________________

Temple Operating Funds

Discretionary Funds:

Rabbi’s Fund

Cantor’s Fund

Other ___________________

Landmark Preservation Fund

Stolz-Levi Walter Jacobs Memorial

Library Fund

Music Enhancement Fund

Prayer Book/Humash Fund

Religious School Fund

Nursery School Fund

Kathrynn W. Rosenbluth Flower Fund

Harold A. Rosenstein Temple Fund

Blanche R. Stolz Scholarship Fund

Jacob J. Weinstein Fund

Youth Activities Fund

Youth Group Israel Scholarship Fund

Restricted Foundation Funds

Blanche and Philip Brail Social Action

Fund

Julius J. Browdy Scholarship and

Education Fund

Agnes Davis Memorial Fund

Ruth Diane Davis Scholarship Fund

Maurice L. Heller Memorial Camp

Scholarship Fund

Gretel and Max Janowski Fund

Babette and Irving H. Mann

Educational Fund

Necheles Scholarship Fund

Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter Fund

Beatrice K. Schneiderman Social

Action Fund

Michael and Rebecca Schneiderman

and Family Scholarship Fund

Ezra Sensibar Fund

Harvey Shapiro Memorial Scholarship

Fund

Esther Rosalie N. and Theodore Stone

Chapel Fund

William and Bernard Weinberg

Scholarship Fund

Rabbi Arnold J. Wolf Adult Education

Fund

Other _________________________

Please make checks payable to:

KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation

1100 East Hyde Park Blvd., Chicago, Illinois 60615-2899

Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law

Pleasemakecheckspayableto:KAMIsaiahIsraelCongregation•1100EastHydeParkBlvd.•Chicago,IL60615-2899Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law

Tributes

Shabbat ServicesShabbat D’varim:

Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22Friday, August 6

Shabbat Services at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 7Shabbat Services at 10:30 a.m.

Shabbat Va-et’chanan: Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11

Friday, August 13Shabbat Service at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 14Shabbat Services at 10:30 a.m.

Shabbat eikev: Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25

Friday, August 20Shabbat Services at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 21Shabbat Services at 10:30 a.m.

Shabbat r’eih: Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17

Friday, August 27Shabbat Services at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 28Shabbat Services at 10:30 a.m.

Torah Study at 9:30 a.m. every Shabbat morning. Transportation to Shabbat evening services is always available. Please call the office.

KAM IsAIAh IsrAel Congregation, Founded in 1847 1100 E. HYDE PARK BOULEVARD •CHICAGO, IL 60615

P:773.924.1234•F:773.924.1238•KAMII@KAMII.oRg•www.KAMII.oRg

Daniel P. Mass ................................ PresidentBatsheva Appel ..........................Senior RabbiMiriam Eskenasy .................................CantorDeborah Bard ........................ Cantor EmeritaTal Rosen .......................... Executive DirectorJessica Hassid ......Director of Religious School

Fran Gordon ............ Nursery School DirectorCharlie Firke ........................................EditorPhyllis Cohn ......................... Associate EditorAbigail Allison ........................ Assistant EditorStewart Martin ....................... Assistant Editor