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CONGREGATION AM HAYAM 4839 Market Street, Unit C, Ventura, Ca. 93003 Phone (805) 644-2899 Fax (805) 644-2887
Website: www.AmHayam.com
From The Rabbi’s Study— June 2017
continued
HAMIGDALOR
From The Rabbi’s Study— November 2018
Thanksgiving Day: Arousing Out of Need, Not Abundance
If we think about Thanksgiving and research its history, we find that it has been largely misunderstood. We usually paint an idyllic picture of Pilgrims inviting Native Americans to festive tables piled high with sumptuous dishes. In truth, the English settlers observed that first Thanksgiving after a year of pitiless adversity. Most historians, it seems, contend that the First Thanksgiving, the one to which our celebration hearkens, was celebrated not in the fall but on July 30, 1623, after a bitterly cold winter, sickness, attacks by Native Americans, and a spring drought that had decimated almost 250 of the 350 colonists. It occurred precisely one day before a ship arrived from England, bringing much needed supplies and additional colonists. It was on that day that the Pilgrims observed their Thanksgiving; not in a time of abundance, but in a time of want. And they did it by word and by deed, inviting the very Native Americans who had assaulted them so recently and by praising G!d.
It was not until 240 years later that Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday. Did it come in a period of plenty? No, it came in the darkest moments of our Civil War. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation appointing the last Thursday in November the day of observance. The proclamation, written by Secretary of State William H. Seward, states, “In the midst of a civil war of unequaled and severe magnitude…” It was only then that Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday, supplanting Evacuation Day, which commemorated the British withdrawal from the United States after the American Revolution.
The lesson of Thanksgiving is that in the midst of trouble--especially in the midst of diffi-culties and misfortunes--we need to find a reason to be thankful. The desire to offer thanksgiving will never cease. Even when things look dark, we can, and we should, find glimmerings of hope and light.
continued
2
In this time,
• when incivility seems to pervade our culture,
• when people think it moral to laud crassness and cheer calls to attack others,
• when more white supremacists and their allies are running for public office in addition to wreaking havoc through marches and acts of violence,
• when a disdain for science, truth and honor leave many distraught,
• when wages seem not to keep up with inflation and the gap between the haves and have-nots keeps increasing
the need for Thanksgiving remains. Thanksgiving Day is a beacon, shining a light on those values for which our country has always stood; a beacon illu-minating our human warmth, a warmth that can yet begin to bring us back together; and of the hopes we bear, which might yet be realized. Kein y’hi ratzon. So may it be, this year. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Rabbi J.B. Sacks
3
continued
We all mourn and live in solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, and we especially send our condolences and love to the families of the victims. Below we reprint Rabbi Sacks' message fol-lowing the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, as it remains timely.
We Grieve and Stand with Tree of Life Or L’Simcha--and We Resolve It is still with shock, anger, and grief that we are all struggling to find our way toward a response to the tragedy at our sister synagogue, Tree of Life Or L'Simcha Congre-gation, in Pittsburgh, a Conservative synagogue, in which three separate congrega-tions make their home. It is a synagogue with a long, storied history in the middle of Squirrel Hill, a diverse area that is also the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh. This tragedy is compounded not only because it took place on Shabbat, a day of peace, but when a bris, the bringing of a baby boy into the Covenant and, as such, a celebration of new life, was about to take place. Our hearts go out to our sisters and brothers in Pitts-burgh, which, for Steven and me, includes dear, close family members.
Hate murdered: Joyce Feinberg, 75 Richard Gottfried, 65 Rose Mallinger, 97 Jerry Rabinowitz, 66 brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59 and David Rosenthal, 54 wife and husband Bernice Simon, 84 and Sylvan Simon, 86, who were married in the Tree of Life synagogue in 1956 Daniel Stein, 71 Melvin Wax, 88 Irving Younger, 69 Moments like this do remind us that kol Yisrael haverim va-haverot, that we Jews maintain deep, strong bonds with one another. We mourn with the Tree of Life Or L'Simcha congregation, and with the Jewish community of greater Pittsburgh, and pray that they--and all of us--experience strength and resilience, courage, and com-fort in the days and weeks ahead. We pray for those who are injured. We are grateful for the bravery of the first responders who risked their lives to save others and prevent even more loss of life.
We are heartened by the outpouring of love and support that they are experiencing from near and far, from both the worldwide Jewish community and from loving people of all faiths. But, quite frankly, we must do more than pray--and we must demand that others do more than pray. Any prayer that does not lead to action or betterment remains an un-completed prayer. remains an uncompleted prayer. continued
4
Eighty years ago (on November 9-10), synagogues in Germany, Austria and in parts of Czechoslovakia were attacked, along with Jewish-owned businesses. This is known as Kristallnacht. That action sent the world a message--one that hate will continue if not confronted. The world chose not to confront it. In 2017 anti-semitic incidents in this country were up 57%, and they are thought to have risen higher this year. These murders come as those who hate have felt increasingly emboldened in our country. Therefore, even as we mourn, and even as we pray, our prayers must be fol-lowed by our imploring our political representatives to address the spiraling violence that is turning formerly safe places--our synagogues, our schools--into scenes of unspeakable carnage. We must call on all Americans to cease the divisive rhetoric that has come to characterize our political discourse and which gives succor to those who hate. We must stop the dog whistles and oth-er coded forms of language which bypass average Americans but send covert comfort to hate groups. While we can and will tone it down in our personal lives, we must ask our leaders to replace that rhetoric with the language of shared values, respectful disagreement, and civil and kind discourse. Anything less is unacceptable. Everything more can contribute that much more robustly to re-directing us from this ill-begotten path.
We must come together--both before and after the upcoming midterm elec-tions--to find healing and common ground. If we do this, then we can prevent hatred from flourishing. That is why this is our Kristallnacht moment--the mo-ment when we decide whether to worry privately and hope that others will do something or to join in a movement that lifts up love over indifference and high above hate. We will commemorate Kristallnacht this Friday night and Saturday morning at our Shabbat services. But we now know that commemorating Kris-tallnacht is not only about our memory of that terrible time, but of our ability to mean, "Never Again," by harnessing our will to rise above hate in order to let love prevail, and by committing ourselves to making our country and our world a better, kinder, more peaceful place. We pray: Ose shalom bimromav hu ya'ase shalom aleinu v'al kol Yisrael v'al kol yosh-vei teivel. May the Maker of Peace in far above realms place peace over us, over the entire Jewish people and over all the inhabitants of the uni-verse.
When we recite this hallowed prayer, we realize that the prayer states "place peace over," and not “grant peace to,” because it is we ourselves who must bring peace down from the heavens, arrange it in our lives and in our world. We are G!d's partners in this most sacred task: we are G!d's ambassadors, we are G!d's hands, we are G!d's feet; we are the ones who most reign in hate, live love, and spread peace. Kein y'hi ratzon. So may it be. Rabbi Sacks
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Greetings:
I apologize for not having the donations made In Honor of or In Memory of ready to put in
this month’s Migdalor. They will be included in December’s Migdalor.
October brought much sadness to our Jewish community with the deadly killings that
occurred in Pittsburgh. Unbelievable we saw, heard and read about the loss of 11 lives.
People going about a normal day of living of attending a Shabbat morning service and
attending a Bris were brutally mowed down and their lives ceased. Unbelievable but true!!!
I am sorry if you missed the Interfaith Community Service held at TBT on Friday, November
2nd. Am HaYam members and guests joined us at CAH for a light Shabbat dinner of pizza
and salad and for our services which followed commemorating Kristallnacht and continued
to honor the lives of those slain in Pittsburgh.
Elsewhere in the Migdalor you will find beautiful and moving words from our Rabbi.
Please join us at our next Services on November 16th and 17th. Eva Lowe will speak of her
experiences on being one of the children who were part of the Kinder Transport program.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving on November 22nd, we must give thanks for the freedom that
we have. But we must not take our freedom for granted. We must never forget what hap-
pened on Kristallnacht, we must never forget what happened in Pittsburgh, and we must
never forget all the injustices that have been done to so many people. Every person is
important!!!
Please make sure you take advantage of the freedoms we have and cast your votes on
Tuesday, November 6th.
Shalom, Brenda
Message from Brenda Rich
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Mondays with Mort
Remember!!!!!!
SCRIP = GIFT CARDS
Purchasing “scrip” means
buying gift cards!!
CAH can meet all your needs:
Markets; Restaurants; Dept. Stores;
Entertainment; Gas Cards; Brent’s Deli;
Ventura Kosher Market and more
Contact Brenda Rich @ [email protected]
During the month of November the only session of Mondays With Mort
at CAH at 10:30 AM will be on Monday, November 26th.
Question of the Month:
What status must someone declare his desire for twice before he attains it?
The answer can be found at
http://www.mondayswithmort.com/doyouknow.htm,
Also be sure to check out the entire
Mondays with Mort web site at http://www.mondayswithmort.com
and the CAH web site at www.amhayam.com .
mailto:[email protected]://www.mondayswithmort.com/doyouknow.htmhttp://www.mondayswithmort.com/http://www.amhayam.com/
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YAHRZEIT DATABASE PROJECT
In the next few months, CAH will be updating the records for Yahrzeit notifications. We are aware that over time, the yahrzeit database of CAH has had some problems,
with incorrect and missing dates and names. We would like to remedy this.
Please look for a letter in the next month with a form attached for you to fill in all of your
yahrzeit information. We will send out an email when the letters have been sent out.
We appreciate your patience in this very important task.
For additional information or questions,
please contact Fran Lande at [email protected] .
November Birthdays
If your birthday or anniversary is not acknowledged please email me at [email protected]
November Anniversaries
GERALD DAVIS 11
JANICE AHORON-EZER 15
FIL BARTON 25
ESTHER TAXON 30
NO ANNIVERSARIES
Tree Planted In Israel October 2018
No Trees Planted
mailto:[email protected]
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Get Well
Bob Packer
Sheila Myles
Fran Lande
Gail Packer
Irv Jacobs
Arnie Rich
Nancy Stein
Donna Gustafson
Jerry Cordova
Judith Jacobson
Judye Newberger
Steven Karash
Norma Van Riper
Mort Resnick
Dianne Ruthman
Ann Sperber
Herb Stein
Roz Resnick
Lee Rothschild
Beth Morales
Betty Abramson
Bruce Irvine
Lois Lebman
Fil Barton
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SIGNIFICANT BOOK CLUB 2018-2019/5779
1 My Own Words
by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Saturday, October 20, 2018
2. My Glorious Brothers,
by Howard Fast
Saturday, December 8, 2018 (just before Chanukah!)
3. The Betrayers,
by David Bezmogis
Saturday, February 16, 2019
4. Letter to my Palestinian Neighbors
by Yossi Klein Halevi
Saturday, April 20, 2019 (as we celebrate Yom HaAtzma’ut)
Come and join us. After Shabbat morning services, we will have food at the Kiddush and par-ticipate in a meaningful discussion of each book. If you are not able to read the book, you are
still invited to join in. Come learn from fellow congregants.
The books can be purchased at a variety of places. If you use Amazon, be sure to use Ama-zon smile for CAH
For more information and to RSVP, please email Fran Lande, Adult Education Chair at
www.amhayam.com
mailto:[email protected]://www.amhayam.comhttps://pixabay.com/en/book-isolated-pitched-books-paper-2341848/
10
SIGNIFICANT BOOK CLUB
On October 20, participants met to discuss the book “My Own Words “ by Ruth Bader
Ginsburg. All agreed that this was a very timely subject. Some participants really
enjoyed gaining more knowledge and perspective on the background and processes
of the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s journey from childhood through the
early days of her career to the present experiences on the Supreme Court were
examined through the lens of her Jewish roots as well as the growth of women's
rights.
One of the thoughts shared was her emphasis on listening to others even if we may
disagree with their opinions and views. Another important insight was the support of
and partnership with her husband.
The movie RBG was also discussed. Participants felt the movie gave more insight
into the journey by putting faces to the important landmark cases she has fought for
and changed the experiences for all. It was also important to see her physical workout
that is part of her very disciplined day.
The next book will be My Glorious Brothers by Howard Fast. My Glorious Brothers is
a historical novel depicting the 167 BC Maccabeean revolt against the Greek-Seleucid
Empire. The novel, which deals with Jewish independence and self-determination,
was published in 1948, during the Israeli War of Independence.
The discussion will occur after services on Saturday, December 8, 2018 as part of our
celebration of Hanukkah. Participants will enjoy the kiddush while discussing the
book. One does not have had to read the book to learn and enjoy the learning.
For more information and to RSVP, please contact Fran Lande, Adult Education Chair,
at [email protected] .
mailto:[email protected]
11
People in Ventura County are hungry year-round
According to Food Share, 1 in 6 people in Ventura County are food-insecure.
That's why we decided we need to keep a Food Share barrel in our lobby year-round. Please think about depositing non-perishables in the barrel. Bags are available in our lobby. When it's full, we'll call Food Share for pick-up. Look for the yellow barrel in our lobby.
Congregation Am HaYam of Ventura County
4839 Market Street, Unit C, Ventura, Ca. 93003 Phone (805) 644-2899 www.amhayam.com
12
*Inscribed on Memorial Wall
Friday, November 2
Frank Spunt, Uncle of Fil Barton
Joseph Bergman, Father of Irv Bergman
*Natalie Gustafson, Sister-In-Law of Donna Gustafson
*William Hornick, Father of Tina Gustavson and Deanna Marenstein
*Nettie Fenick, Mother of Elaine Hanig
*Rose Kupperman, Mother of Mark Kupperman
Loretta Zeller, Mother of Sheila Myles
*Sally Resnick, Mother of Mort Resnick and Mother-In-Law of Ruth Resnick
*Irene Rich, Mother of Arnold Rich
Rachel Wiener, Mother of Norma Van Riper
Selma Winer, Mother of Myrna Winer
Friday, November 16
*Edith Rosenthal, Mother of Alma Golden
Lina Hirsch, Mother of Eva Lowe
Meyer Fogel, Grandfather of Myra Matlin
Martin Myles, Husband of Sheila Myles
Maurice Packer, Father of Bob Packer
*Baylis Resnick, Husband of Ruth Resnick and Brother of Mort Resnick
*Marion Wayne, Mother of Ann Sperber
Samuel Kurnick, First Husband of Norma Van Riper
Sam Wolfson, Father of Ilana Wolfson
Harry Perrick, Father of Martha Zoloth
Betty Perrick, Mother of Martha Zoloth
YAHRZEIT
13
November 2018 Cheshvan/Kislev 5779
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 Commemorating
Kristallnacht
5:45p Candle lighting Services
8 p m
3
Services
10 am
Commemorating
Kristallnacht
Shabbat Ends
6:40pm
4
Daylight
Saving Time
Ends
5
No Mondays
with Mort
6 7
Sigd
8
Rosh Cho-
desh Kislev
9
4:39p
Candle
lighting
10
Shabbat
Ends Pa-
rashot5:35p
11
Happy
Birthday
Gerald Davis
12
No Mondays
with Mort
13 14 15
Happy
Birthday
Janice
Ahoron-Ezer
16
4:34p
Candle
lighting
Services
8 p m
17
Services
10 am
Shabbat
Ends 5:31p
Eva Lowe
speaks
about
Kinder
Transport
18 19
No Mondays
with Mort
20 21 Thanksgiving
Day
23
4:31p
Candle
lighting
24
Shabbat
Ends
5:29p
25
Happy
Birthday
Fil Barton
26
Mondays
with Mort at
10:30am
27 28 29 30
Happy
Birthday
Esther Taxon
4:29p
Candle
lighting
https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/sigdhttps://www.hebcal.com/holidays/rosh-chodesh-kislevhttps://www.hebcal.com/holidays/rosh-chodesh-kislevhttps://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/toldothttps://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/toldot
14
Rabbi J. B. Sacks [email protected]———phone#323-387-0096
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT Brenda Rich
phone#-805-469-0268
VICE-PRESIDENT—
TREASURER- Lois Lebman
SECRETARY - Donna Gustafson
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY-Ruth Resnick
WAYS & MEANS VP - Marc Goldman
MEMBERSHIP VP - Miriam Mack
RITUAL VP - Roz Resnick
RITUAL VP Emeritus—Milt Rothschild z”l
HOUSING VP - Neal Abramson
IMMEDIATE PAST PRES - Brenda Rich
ADULT EDUCATION VP - Fran Lande
DIRECTORS—Betty Abramson,
Andrea Massion
Lee Rothschild
PAST PRESIDENTS
Mort Resnick
Arnie Fingerhut z’l
Jerry Ruthman z'l
Peter Shack z'l
Brenda Rich
OUR VOLUNTEERS
Kiddushim - Brenda Rich
Oneg Shabbat -Fil Barton
Librarian -- Donna Gustafson
Programming
Tributes — Lois Lebman
Telephone
Purchasing — Ruth Resnick
Yahrzeits — Bev Rosen
Migdalor— Bev Rosen
Sunshine
Webmaster—Mort Resnick
Publicity