PURIM AND THE BOOK OF ESTHERThere are few stories as familiar to Jews as

the book of Esther. Chanted every year on Purim, both in the night and in the morning, we listen to each word with grogger in hand, ready to pounce on the next mention of the evil Haman. According to Jewish law, we are obligated t o h e a r e v e r y w o r d i n d i v i d u a l l y, a h i g h e r obligation than even our normal Torah reading. (For one of my cousins in I s rae l , who l ives on a

religious Kibbutz outside of Ashkelon, this became a point of contention in his community.

There was just too much noise in the main synagogue service, with kids popping fire crackers near by the reading. He started his own megillah reading where there could be blessed silence.)

Traditionally we even dress as the characters of the story, with girls and boys dressing as Mordecai, Esther, Vashti, Achashverosh, Zeresh, and Haman, pretending we have been transported back several millenniums to ancient Shushan.

Amazingly, with such well known plotlines, the story is still able to retain an element of surprise. We still feel chills as Haman attempts to kills us, and elation as Esther and Mordecai are there to save the day. And, poor King Acheshverosh is still made to look the fool, allowing drink to cloud his vision of what is really happening in his kingdom. God, of course, is the invisible character, directing the action without once being mentioned in the actual text.

In reading the Megillah, I am always reminded of a modern fable written by the great Columbian novelist Gabrielle Garcia Marquez called Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It tells the tale of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the Vicario brothers, an event that everyone in a small town knows will occur, but do nothing to prevent. Like the megillah, Marquez demonstrates how a sense of mystery can be retained even when all the details of the crime are already known.

For those of you who feel you do indeed know the story from beginning to end, the surprise comes by way of the Purim shpeil. Shpeil, a Yiddish word meaning “play” or “skit,” is a staple of modern synagogues giving us an opportunity to be riotous in a religious setting. At Sinai, we are very proud of our shpeils, and the small cast of characters that comes back year after year to reenact the story of Esther in a new way.

I hope I am not giving away too much of the surprise by letting you know the genre of this year’s script. We are moving from Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, to Law and Order. There will be a murder, and not the one you think, and there will be a murderer, also not the one you think. While you may know many of the characters from the historical megillah, I promise you will not know this version of the story.

Put together by the team of Esther Bates, Arnold Alt, Josh Finkelstein, and with the moral support of Judy Bardach, and led by graduates of the Sinai school of Shpeil, I encourage you to come out on the night of Saturday, March 19th to see the crew in action. We will, of course, also read from the actual megillah.

And, if you still want to continue the celebration that Sunday, I am very excited to announce that Temple Beth Zion and our Gesher school are combining to host a Purim carnival from 11:30 to 1 at the Broder Center (700 Sweet Home Road). There will be games, bounce houses, food, and a host of activities, and it is open to the whole community.

In the interim, I encourage you to catch up on old Law and Order episodes and to prepare yourself to see the story of Esther in a way that it has never been told before.

B’Shalom,Rabbi Alex

Rabbi AlexLazarus-Klein

FROM THE PRESIDENTBy the time you read this, the Dues Committee hopes to have settled on a dues structure for next year. Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey – we had almost ha l f t he member sh ip respond! Since most surveys only get about a 25 percent response rate, this is a terrific response. We had some surprising results, and are trying to

take everyone’s needs into consideration, and make the system as equitable as possible. However, we may not be able to make the sweeping changes I originally hoped for. We have been crunching and re-crunching the numbers, and several of the systems we considered simply did not look like they would bring in enough money to meet our budget – or placed an undue burden on certain members of our community. Of course, if we are having trouble bringing in enough money to meet our budget, then perhaps we need to cut our budget even further next year. Our budget is already pretty lean, but the Finance Committee will be going over it with a fine-tooth comb before we present the next fiscal year’s budget to the board in April. While restructuring dues and cutting the budget, we are also looking at ways to sustain Temple Sinai in the long-term. We love our small community, but our shrinking and aging demographic is not without challenges. Because other Jewish organizations in the community face similar challenges, we are talking to each other, trying to find ways that we can work together. This presents some exciting opportunities for collaboration. The more we work together as a larger community, the stronger each of us becomes.

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PresidentJill Hamilton

LIBRARY CORNERby Leslie Jaszczak

In the wake of January’s shooting in Tucson, there has been been much discussion about the need for civility and respect in our public discourse. Judaism, with its emphasis on the power of words and the dignity of each individual, has much to teach us on this subject. One of the best recent books acquired by the temple library is You Don’t Have to be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith without Fanaticism, by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield.

More than many authors, Rabbi Hirschfield knows firsthand the dangers of black-and-white thinking. Embracing Orthodoxy at the age of twelve, much to the dismay of his relatively secular family, he traveled to Israel in the early 1980s to join an extremist settlers’ group in Hebron. The deaths of two Palestinian children in a retaliatory raid shook him to the core, however, and from that time forward he has been seeking to build bridges between people with conflicting views.

You Don’t Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right is a uniquely personal book. Exposing his own doubts and stumbles to the reader, Rabbi Hirschfield draws on his own experience in situations as diverse as riding in a taxi with a fundamentalist Christian driver to a music festival in Morocco and a havdalah ceremony atop the Reichstag building in Berlin to illustrate the lessons he has learned.

Written with compassion and wisdom, You Don’t Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right is an invaluable guide for those who wish to engage in civil discourse with those with whom they disagree without sacr if ic ing their own commitment.

March 2011(Adar/Adar 5771)

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TAX TIME AND A CHANCE TO HELP TEMPLE SINAI !!!!!!TEMPLE  SINAI  is  again  participating  in  H&R  Block's  Non-­‐Pro=it  Referral  Program.    Temple  Sinai  will  receive   $25   for   any  new  clients  who  have   their  personal   income   taxes   prepared   and   =iled  by  H&R  Block.      Any  member  or  friend  of  Sinai  can  use  the  certi=icate  at  any  H&R  Block  location  (anywhere  in  the  country)  and  Temple  will  get  the  referral  award.    Certi=icates  are  available   in  the  Temple  of=ice  or  at  some  local  H&R  Block  of=ice.    

Tax  TipOn   your  Schedule   A,   you  can   deduct  mileage   for  volunteer  work  for   registered     charities   (such   as  attendance  at  committee  and  board  meetings)  at  the  rate  of  14  cents  per  mile.

FROM THE EDITOR EMERITA

Someone asked me recently whether I had ever considered becoming a rabbi. I replied that that was unheard of when I was a college student. I had known for many years that Sally Priesand, who was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 1972, was the first woman rabbi, soon to be followed by our own Reconstructionist Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. However, a few years ago I found out that this statement was not true: at least one woman was ordained as a rabbi in the 1930's and there had been a woman acting as rabbi in the nineteenth century. I also learned that Jewish women have been Talmudists, teachers and lay leaders of religious services for women through the years. Now, of course, there are quite a few women rabbis in the Reconstructionist, Reform, and even Conservative movements. In fact, more than half of all students currently studying for the rabbinate in the United States are women. Women have been enrolled in rabbinical colleges in the United States and in Germany since the early 1900's, but they were not allowed to become rabbis. In 1903, Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, became the first woman to study at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York; and in 1906, the first female student was admitted to audit courses at the Academy for the Science of Judaism in Berlin, Germany. But the understanding was that these women were to become teachers or follow some other “female” profession. In fact, for Miss Szold to be admitted to the seminary, she had to sign a declaration that she would not seek to become a rabbi. In 1922, Martha Neumark was not ordained as a rabbi by the board of governors of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, despite her having graduated from the college and having the support of many faculty members in her quest to become a rabbi. However, in the 1890's a religiously observant, well-educated, charismatic young woman from California, Rachel (Rae) Frank, was referred to in the American press as “the first female rabbi in the world,” “the girl rabbi” and “the female messiah.” Although she was not ordained as a rabbi, she organized and led High Holiday services in Spokane, Washington, and gave sermons and lectures throughout the West. Some of her topics sound most relevant over 100 years later. Here is one quotation I found, “Give us congregational singing which comes directly from our heart...Give us simplicity in our rabbi,

things which practically concern us...and our synagogues will no longer mourn in their loneliness.” Although she was a very popular preacher and thousands of people had turned out to hear her speak at a Western Chautauqua program, Rachel Frank gave up her speaking career when she married in 1898. However, she did continue to be active in Jewish affairs, and was one of the founders of the Hillel movement. Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas: The Story of the First Woman Rabbi by Rabbi Elisa Klapheck, introduced me to the triumphant and tragic life story of a fascinating woman. Regina Jonas was born in Berlin in 1902, and always knew that she wanted to be a rabbi. At the Jewish girls’ school that she attended, she was an average student in all of her secular subjects, but outstanding in her religious studies. She became an effective teacher in Jewish schools, wrote a much-acclaimed Hanukkah play, and had acted as a preacher in some small congregations, but that was not enough for her. In 1930, she wrote an eighty page essay, “Can Women Serve as Rabbis?” for her final paper in a course on halacha [Jewish law] at the Institute for Jewish Learning in Berlin. In this paper, Regina, who would have liked to have been an Orthodox rabbi, argued that her readings of rabbinical writings had convinced her that women could, indeed, be ordained as rabbis. She finally achieved her dream in 1935, though not in the Orthodox establishment. When the Nazis put ever-increasing pressure on the Jews, she felt that it was her mission to stay with her people as a rabbi when they needed her, so she declined to leave Germany. She was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, which the Germans had set up as a supposedly self-ruled “Jewish town” to show off to the International Red Cross and other humanitarian groups, although the prison conditions and lack of food there were similar to those in other concentration camps. There Rabbi Jonas continued to give sermons and lectures on a variety of Jewish topics until she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in 1944. Although she has rarely been mentioned in the history books, she was remembered as a somewhat eccentric but brilliant and compassionate person by those of her students and colleagues who survived the holocaust, and Rabbi Klapheck credits her perseverance with laying the foundations for her and other women to become rabbis in post-war Europe.

GENERAL FUND In Honor ofIRV SUGAR’S SPEEDY RECOVERY by Renae Gattozzi & Karen Houser andMichael & Alan Lemanski-Rosenberg

In Memory ofJOHN STANLEY SHEVAT by Liz & Max SloanWILBERT NUSINOV by Eileen NusinovSASHA STRASSBERG by Norman & Marianne Goldstein; Michele & Lance PozarnyCLIFFORD HORWITZ by Zena HymanYOSIF ZVI, DVORA, CHAIM, CHARNA & DOYV SHAPOSHNIK by Lilian & Yakov ShaposhnikovMY BELOVED COUSIN FRANCES REISS by Lorraine MedwinJULIE HOUSE by Stanley WaldshanNELSON TESSLER by Steve CaviorROBERT BENJAMIN by Steve Cavior

MEMORIAL FUNDS

ROBERT UNHER MEMORIAL FUND In Memory ofESTHER FINK by Norma & Morris UnherGORDON MACLEOD by Norma & Morris UnherALAN RUTSTEIN by Norma & Morris UnherGEORGE ROSENFELD by Norma & Morris UnherWILLIAM GREENE by Morris & Norma UnherMURIEL HOUSE by Norma & Morris Unher

LOUIS BORINS

YAHRZEIT FUNDIn Memory ofSANFORD KULICK by Elaine Cheiffetz

EDUCATION FUNDS

L E O N A R D & B E T T Y G O O D M A N EDUCATION FUNDIn Memory ofRITA RUBIN by Vickie & Mitch Rubin

BELLA AND BERT KREMER EDUCATION FUNDIn Memory ofBELLA KREMER by Richard Kremer; Harold & Deah BrodyLOUIS D. REKOON MEMORIAL FUNDRABBI'S DISCRETIONARY FUNDIn Honor of

RABBI ALEX by Norma & Morris UnherIRV SUGAR’S SPEEDY RECOVERY by Mirel & Melania PuiusIn Memory ofJULIAN JOSEPH ZUCKER by Marion Zucker GoldsteinARTHUR DARROW by Sherri DarrowEMIL & LILLIAN LAUFER by Gilda & Larry Laufer

SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS

MORRIS SOBEL FUND

NEUSTATTER- SHAPIRO SCHOLARSHIP FUNDIn Memory ofMARTIN FRIEDLANDER by Carol Oleshansky

DR. ALEX MORRISON MEMORIAL LIBRARY FUNDIn Memory ofRUTH MILLER by Ruth AxlerodMORRIS SCHULMAN by Ruth Axlerod

YOUTH GROUP FUND

BESS AND MORRIS MICHAELS MEMORIAL COURTYARD GARDEN FUNDIn Memory ofJOANNE COPPINS by Paul Michaels

MUSIC FUND In Honor of THE BIRTH OF HANNAH MARGARET CUNNINGHAM by Liz & Max SloanIn Memory ofROMA BETH OLIN by Judith Olin Binder

PRAYERBOOK FUND JUBILEE ENDOWMENT FUNDTREE OF LIFEWELCOME NEW MEMBERS

MAZEL TOVLiz & Max Sloan on the birth of their new granddaughter Hannah Margaret Cunningham

CONDOLENCESKen Kellick on the death of his mother Ida KellickLaura Asher-Knipfing on the death of her father Jack Asher

March 2011(Adar/Adar 5771)

TIKKUN OLAMBY Amy O’Donnell

The Tikkun Olam Committee has sponsored several projects over the past couple of months. We want to thank the many members of Temple Sinai who have participated in our events or brought items in for our collections and have made them such a success. I want to fill you in on some of the things we have done. Together with the families of the Gesher School, and with the generosity of the Temple Board, Committees and members, we put together 10 full Thanksgiving dinners (turkey, side dishes, desserts), which were donated to Jewish Family Services and distributed to needy families. Shahna Bieber did a terrific job as chairperson of this event and was able to get all of the Gesher School children involved. In November we collected hats, mittens and scarves, and in December we collected toys. These were all donated to Haven House, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Thank you to all who contributed – these donations helped to lift the spirit of women and children living in their shelter during the winter holidays and were very much appreciated. On December 5th our Temple community baked and decorated Chanukkah cookies. We enjoyed lunch together while the cookies were baking. Several dozen cookies were delivered to Weinberg Campus during their Chanukkah party that day. We also brought dozens of cookies to Compass House (for runaway youth) and Cornerstone Manor (for homeless women and children). January was a cold month, and we again collected hats and mittens but we also collected socks, since warm and dry socks are much needed within the homeless community. On February 6th volunteers from our Temple community made a lunch and delivered it to approximately 110 residents and staff at Cornerstone Manor. Thank you to Lorraine Medwin and Jan Sandberg for organizing this event, and to all the volunteers who participated. We brought them about 200 tuna or cheese sandwiches, carrots, celery sticks, and desserts. In addition, we donated the warm socks, hats and mittens from our collection to Cornerstone Manor, as well as children’s books from our last rummage sale. Tikkun Olam committee can always use volunteers. Keep an eye out for future events and the monthly collection theme, and keep filling up that barrel outside of the sanctuary! We will always accept donations of non-perishable food to be distributed to various shelters as well. Each time you come to Temple, consider bringing a can of food or an item for our monthly collection.

Chai Club Draws to an EndThe winners of the Chai Club drawing since the last issue of the Dialogue

January 24 -Leslie Gold, Mary Ellen Kranock, Raphael/GellinJanuary 31 -Becca Sugar, Ken Kellick, Kathy GordonFebruary 7 -Rebecca & Nora Slonim, Bill Regan, Cary DarrowFebruary 14 - Linda Weiss, Melania Puius, Carol SegalFebruary 21-Alva Finkelstein,Dana Sugar,Gilda Laufer

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