Shofar - February 2011 - Shevat/Adar1 5771

Shofar Shevat/Adar 5771 Jewish Family Congregation February 2011

www.jewishfamilycongregation.org

From the Rabbi’s Desk page 1 Service Schedule page 2 President’s Message page 3 JFC Adults page 4 JiFTY page 6 A Voice Still Heard page 7 Chanting Torah page 8 The Religious School page 10 Early Childhood Center page 12 ECC pictures page 14

Religious School pictures page 15 JFC Announcements page 17 Kids Ask the Rabbi page 20 Donations to JFC page 22 Social Action Committee page 23 Yahrzeit/Annivs/Birthdays page 26 Ask the Rabbi page 28 Donations Form page 30 JFC Calendar page 31

From the Rabbi’s Desk

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In the days following the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, many people chimed in with opinions about the events. Some were quick to blame the heated rhetoric that accom-panied the most recent election cycle, and some attributed political motivation to the perpetrator. After a few days, it became clear that the shooter was mentally ill, and that he had no discernable political leanings. That discovery prompted others to wag their fingers (and their tongues) at the commentators who had blamed the aggressive language and tone of certain candidates from the right, and particularly from the Tea Party move-ment, for influencing the shooter. Listening to a call-in radio show that week while running on the treadmill, I heard one caller make a very interesting point. He said that the intensity of the political discourse around the last election reminded him of what it was like in Israel just before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated (the caller had lived in Israel at the time). In 1995, Rabin was working toward some kind of negoti-ated settlement to end the standoff with the Palestinians, and there was reason to hope that this would lead to the creation of a state that the Palestinians would accept and cherish. But there was then, as there is now, a faction within the Israeli Jewish population that considers ceding any of “greater Israel” a sin. And they demonized the prime minister to such a degree that an Orthodox Jew gunned him down on November 4 of that year. In that instance, there certainly was a political motiva-tion to the killing. And while it may be true that the trou-bled young man who killed six people and wounded 19 others in Tucson was not politically driven, it may also be true that he was nonetheless influenced by candidates for election who spoke of “Second Amendment Remedies” to various situations, by commentators who spoke about the candidates they particularly wanted to defeat, publishing a map with cross-hair targets on the congressional districts

they were targeting. It is chilling to note that Congress-woman Gabrielle Giffords was one of those targeted, and that she spoke out about that at the time. Those politicians and commentators who had used the inflamed language and wild-west imagery of gun fights in-sisted that this was just their style, with no intention of inciting someone to actually shoot anyone. But this does not absolve them of responsibility for creating an atmosphere that encourages people to carry and use weapons. Nor does it take into account people like Jared Lough-ner, the Tucson shooter, who do not have a firm grip on reality. The long list of shooting incidents in this country, going back to the attempts on the lives of Presidents Ford and Reagan, clearly shows that people who are mentally unstable will and do respond to voices sanctioning solu-tions using “bullets, not ballots.” The other side to this story is about the ready availabil-ity of guns and ammunition in this country. It appears that Mr. Loughner went, the morning of the shooting, to a chain discount store and bought the bullets he used. Ari-zona apparently has some of the most lax gun laws in the country. Though he had been kicked out of his Community College because of bizarre behaviour, and though he had been turned down by the army because the recruiters saw something off in him, Mr Loughner had no trouble buying guns and bullets. In other countries, Canada conspicuously amongst them, there are restrictions about the kind of weapons available (no extended magazines, like Loughner used to fire 31 bullets, uninterrupted) and applicants must both licence and register their guns; they are required to take a course on gun use and safety, and then there is a month’s waiting period before they can have the weapons. If noth-ing else, this reduces the spontaneous use of guns to settle

(Continued on page 16)

Page 2 Jewish Family Congregation Shofar February 2011

FEBRUARY

Friday, Feb 4/ 1 Adar 1 7:30 pm Parshat T’ruma Our Musical Tribute to the late Debbie Friedman Saturday, Feb 5 10:00 am Shabbat morning service

Friday, Feb 11/ 1 Adar 8 7:30 pm Parshat T’tzaveh 3rd Grade Service Saturday, Feb 12 10:00 am Shabbat morning service

Friday, Feb 18/ 1 Adar 15 7:30 pm Parshat Ki Tissa

Friday, Feb 25/ 1 Adar 22 7:30 pm Parshat Vayak’hel

Jewish Family

Congregation 111 Smith Ridge Road

P.O. Box 249 South Salem, NY 10590 Phone: (914) 763-3028 Fax: (914) 763-3069 e-mail: [email protected]

jewishfamilycongregation.org

Rabbi Carla Freedman [email protected]

Cantor Kerry Ben-David

[email protected]

School Director Leslie Gottlieb

[email protected] Early Childhood Center Director Fern Tannenbaum

[email protected]

Temple Administrator Jolie Levy

[email protected]

Board Of Trustees

Richard Mishkin,

Co-President 914-764-8305;

Jeanette Sanders, Co-President

914-763-0311; Mark Lavin,

Vice President; Polly Schnell,

Vice President; Bill Pink,

Secretary; Andrew Serby,

Treasurer;

Carrie Kane David Marceau

Beth Tessler Debra Verbeke

Elisa Zuckerberg and

Johanna Perlman,

Past President

Shofar Editor

Jolie Levy

CHOIR

If you would like to join the choir, or for more information, please contact Kathy Storfer at [email protected]

We welcome all adults -- 13 or older!

SERVICE SCHEDULE

2011-2012 Religious School Registration Forms are all available on our website! Please visit www.jewishfamilycongregation.org and go to

education then religious school.

It’s that easy!

Next Midnight Run: Saturday, March 5

Shevat/Adar 5771 Jewish Family Congregation Shofar Page 3

The President’s Message by Jeanette Sanders

The board is always busy planning events, monitoring the business of the temple

and making sure that the building and staff are well cared for. It’s a tall task. The board is staffed 100% by volunteers, all of whom have busy lives outside of the temple

roles they fill. Although it must sound like a broken record, and at the risk of sounding super repetitive, I have to say it: WE NEED YOUR HELP.

One of our most immediate needs is for someone to head up a Temple Technology Committee, and we need for members to join that committee. We already have a very

competent individual, Laurence Furic, who maintains our website, but we need several more techies to take on the task of oversight of the technology in the building and plan-

ning for the future needs of the congregation. If you have a technology background or passion, please let us know. Don’t assume that someone else knows more, has more

time, or has a greater interest. Once again, let me reiterate that working together on a committee is a great way to solidify strong relationships in the congregation and make

you feel better connected and important to the life and longevity of the temple. Another area that needs individuals is the Building Maintenance Committee.

There are an infinite number of small things that need oversight when you care for a

building as complex as the one we inhabit. We need someone who will inspect and monitor various systems that are part of our building and keep track of all the requests,

big and small, to maintain, fix, modify and enhance the premises. Members with ex-perience in any of areas mentioned would be welcome. If you are a handyman, electri-

cian, plumber or know Construction, HVAC, landscape architecture, and/or security sys-tems please consider joining this committee and lending us your expertise. These ser-

vices are very costly and often unavailable in an urgent situation. Sometimes we just need someone to negotiate with contract companies for services for JFC. We’ve had a

host of different people who have filled this role in the past, but we are currently with-out individuals to man this important committee.

Surprisingly, I have found that winter is a time when families find themselves with a lit-

tle extra time to share. Unexpected school and work closings, lead to unplanned time at

home. Take advantage of these times to be

close with your family and enjoy each other’s company. I am sure that we are all secretly

counting down the days until the start of Spring and warm weather when we can once

again enjoy the outdoors and cease the battle with cold weather, flus, viruses and short

days. Til then, I advocate, working on a com-mittee to pass the time.

Shalom,

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JFC Adults By Jeanne Shanin, Adult Program Coordinator

Our first Game Night was so much fun that we’re hav-ing it again at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 12. “Soup, Bread & Game Night” is an adult night out where you bring a soup or bread and a favorite board or card game to play after the meal. This year we’ll be playing online Jewish Trivia. You can choose from 14 topics and there are hundreds of questions. Move around to differ-ent games or stay with one - it's entirely up to you. A very casual, relaxed evening. Soup has been a human mainstay from time immemorial. One of the earliest re-cords of soup dates from 6000 B.C.E. In the 12th century the great sage and phy-sician, Maimonides wrote about the beneficial medicinal properties of chicken

soup in his medical treatise, "On the Cause of Symptoms." Since that time, chicken soup has been a Jewish staple at the Shabbat and holiday table. Soup is symbolic of home, hearth, warmth and nurtur-ing. Just as soup fills us full of nourishment and warmth, sharing a bowl together invokes friendship and well-being. It’s been a long cold winter. So make (or buy) a hot pot of soup and a wholesome loaf of bread (dessert will be provided). Don’t have a soup recipe you love? Go to www.jewishsoups.com. Then bundle up and join us for lots of fun. Game Night will be held at the home of Harold and Ruth Ossher in South Salem. RSVP Jeanne (914) 763-5650 or [email protected] by February 6 to let us know what you’re bringing and to get directions.

http://www.jewishsoups.com



JiFTY ELECTIONS ON 3/24/11

(at our 7:15 PM regularly scheduled meeting)

Start thinking about your potential position on next year’s board!

Current Positions and Position-Holders:

President: Renna Gottlieb

Programming Vice-President (PVP): Daniel Bloch

Religious and Cultural Vice-President (RCVP): Matt Emmer

Social Action Vice-President (SAVP): Daniella Acker

Communications Vice-President (CVP): Zia Waldman

Membership Vice-President (MVP): Andrew Blum

JiFTY

Ask this year’s board members all about their current positions!


Jewish Family Congregation Early Childhood Center

Where Family is our middle name

WE ARE CURRENTLY REGISTERING FOR 2011-12!

Please visit our website at www.jewishfamilycongregation.org OR call Fern Tannenbaum at (914) 763-3028 ext. 15

Popular Jewish singer and songwriter, Debbie Friedman, died Sunday, January 9th in Orange County, California. That evening, Batyah and I attended a very moving memorial service that had originally been conceived as a prayer-music service of healing. In this case, Debbie herself, so well known for her services of healing and her well-known setting of “Mi Shebeirach,” was to have been the sole fo-cus of the gathering. But, before we were able to assem-ble, we received word that she had lost her valiant fight. From every Jewish corner the tributes poured in. The website of the Union for Reform Judaism posted this statement: “Debbie influenced and enriched contempo-rary Jewish music in a profound way. Her music crossed generational and denominational lines and carved a pow-erful legacy of authentic Jewish spirituality into our daily lives.” Eric Yoffie, its president, added, “Debbie Friedman was an extraordinary treasure of our movement and an individual of great influence. Twenty-five years ago, North America Jews had forgotten how to sing. Debbie reminded us how to sing, she taught us how to sing. She gave us the vehicles that enabled us to sing. Then she impacted our youth and our camps and, ultimately, from there she im-pacted our synagogues. What happens in the synagogues of Reform Judaism today – the voices of song – are in large measure due to the insight, brilliance and influence of Debbie Friedman.” At my retirement from Scarsdale Synagogue six years ago, Debbie presented a concert in my honor. You can

imagine what a thrill that was for me and my family. At Hebrew Union College, I had taken a short course with her in the late ‘90s. In a first-hand way I have also seen exam-ples of her caring and kindness. Several years ago, the fa-ther of one of my wife’s cousins who happened to be a friend of Debbie’s was seriously ill. Debbie picked up a phone and sang her powerful, “Mishebeirach” to him as he lay in his hospital bed. A year later, to be at his funeral service, she came by private cab to New Haven to sing her setting of the 23rd Psalm. Personally, she knew the strug-gles of chronic illness. Debbie had struggled for two dec-ades with an often debilitating and never definitively diag-nosed neurological condition. Her “Mi Shebeirach” was recently performed at a Tucson temple for Arizona Con-gresswoman Gabrielle Giffords during a healing service. Friedman, a self-described child of the 1960s, was in-spired by the music and styles of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Carly Simon and the folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. Her contemporary settings of traditional Hebrew liturgy often include sections in English. Additionally, she wrote many songs with original English lyrics. She left a wide body of hugely popular children’s and holiday songs and many that delved into her own special interest, spirituality. Our con-gregation regularly uses her compositions; including “Ahavat Olam,” “Mi Chamocha,” “V’Shamru,” “Ose Sha-lom” and of course, “MiShebeirach.” Her legacy will live on for many generations to come!

A Voice Still Heard by Cantor Kerry Ben-David


Last summer, after we mourned the loss of our friend and long time JFC congregant Lila Gordon, I decided that I should take upon her tradition to chant Torah regularly at Friday Shabbat services. I wanted to do it to honor her memory, and also because it felt like something that she would have been proud of, to fol-low in her footsteps.

I was always impressed to see and listen to her, as well as many other congregants when they were go-ing up to the bimah and chanting from the Torah scroll. I knew that it was not an easy undertaking, and also I had always been very impressed by the To-rah scroll itself.

Everyone who has had children getting ready for their bar or bat mitzvah has witnessed the long and some-times painful process of learning cantillation and get-ting ready to chant one's parashah, the weekly Torah portion, with those strange foreign chunks of letter - dotted and adorned with even stranger signs above and below. The melody that goes with the chanting is also unusual, certainly not the type of melodic pat-tern we are used to with mainstream jingles. It re-quires some training for our ears to discriminate the subtle changes in patterns, and how they have to match to the syllables that form the words of the text. And of course I won't mention that another brain gym is requested to read from right to left...

Well, many adults of our congregation have gone back - or for some, like myself, started for the first time in their lives - to practicing this ancient art of cantillation, for the great benefit of our congregation. I certainly enjoy the reading of the Torah, also when it is simply read (especially that our rabbi is promptly translating what she is reading along), but for me, it is still in another foreign language, and my brain still has to do some gym to go back and forth to entirely fol-low. But listening to the Torah when it is chanted has a completely different power over me.

We are very blessed to have Linda Paulding and Ruth Ossher tutor our children. I have seen firsthand with one of my sons how they have them love this very foreign language - biblical Hebrew - and guide them through an art to the point they master it so beauti-

fully the day they become bar or bat mitzvah. Ruth has been introducing and encouraging me to chant, (I am still hoping there will soon be some adult classes again, so that I can go to the next level) and for the last nine months I have delighted in trying to work my way through several parshiot (plural for Torah por-tions of the week) in order to keep up with my com-mitment to Lila's memory.

I wasn't expecting that it was going to delight me so much. There is something very special that has hap-pened in the course of working with cantillation: it has brought up feelings that I hadn't had a chance to experience in such a long time. The discipline has proven to be healing. I know that it may sound strange to very rational minds, but I do believe that there is more than art in the chanting Torah, there is a profound power that goes directly to where our body and souls vibrate and resonate.

It is different from prayer because what we are chant-ing is basically telling stories, not trying to engage in a conversation with a source that can be difficult to reach. It is still something difficult for me to explain exactly, because it involves something that isn't only physical and not only intellectual; by chanting these stories and attempting to "play" them exactly the way they are intended to be played, thanks to all the indi-cations the tropes give us, it is like activating a whole theater, and playing a vivid scene from those stories, and the source reaches us, instead of us seeking the right words and attitude to reach the source.

It is a flickering moment. It doesn't last very long, es-pecially that we don't chant the entire parashah, but an acceptable-in-length portion of it, so that it fits in a Friday evening service. My hope is that this flickering sublime moment is shared and received by the con-gregation, and they can feel like I do that the theater of a very telling world opens to us even as briefly as it does.

Chanting Torah by Laurence Furic

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Last month, we celebrated Tu B’ Shevat, the birthday of the trees. As always, the Religious School makes it an im-perative to ask students and their families to consider planting a tree in Israel as the Jewish National Fund has done for over 100 years. Planting trees in Israel in some-one’s honor or memory is a great mitzvah at any time as our tradition obligates us to beautify things and to return the world to its proper glory. But just before the new year, a most terrible thing hap-pened in Israel that devastated the land. On December 2, 2010, the worst forest fire in Israel’s history broke out in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa. This is the depiction we get from the JNF website. “Losses were devastating. 44 people died, homes were lost and more than 12,500 acres of forests destroyed. JNF foresters estimate that over 5 million trees were burned. After four days of continuous fighting, the Israeli firefighters succeeded in dousing the flames, but the road to recovery has only begun. JNF is working with the Minister of the Environment on a plan to rehabilitate the region. As the U.S. fundraising arm of the Friends of Israel Firefighters, we will continue to raise funds to purchase firetrucks as well as replenish damaged protective gear and depleted firefighting supplies.” So JNF has created a campaign, from Black to Green, in order to help reforest this land. We all really need to help this cause. Israel has to improve its firefighting capabilities to avoid future tragedies. With 12,500 acres lost (includ-ing 5 million trees), we need to help them better prepare for fires that have such damaging potential—like this one whose flames reached 100 feet. Israel needs to purchase mini-pumpers and protective gear. With the climate being very hot and dry most months of the year, this kind of thing could happen again even though this fire was started maliciously. The arson suspect is in jail but we are still without all those trees and the lives lost can never be re-placed. So here’s what we can do:

1) Help JNF cultivate and rejuvenate the forests until they are restored to their original beauty. 2) Provide firefighters with much-needed equipment and replace supplies that were depleted during the fight. 3) Create your own firefighting equipment fundraising page for your group or synagogue. 4) Create your own forest renewal fundraising page for

your group or synagogue. Watch a broadcast of IBA English TV in Israel on the fire, the needs and what JNF is doing. Listen to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on a conference call with JNF. Show your support for Israel's firefighters and the State of Israel. Make your donation now. Sometimes it seems that our school is always asking you as parents and students to get involved-- and that often means a monetary contribution—although modest is the request. Last month we asked families to donate hats, gloves and mittens as our student government (the Kids Knesset) organized its first-ever drive. These dona-tions are being delivered to the Katonah Community Cen-ter to help needy children right in our local area. You may even get to see some youngster wearing one of the hats you gave!!!! I bought several sets of gloves and paid $2 for each set. This kind of contribution surely does not set anyone back too far, but the message you send your children (and remind yourself of) is priceless. We are not in this world alone and we need to help each other. Al-though Israel seems so far away with its own govern-ment to oversee things, we are citizens in the Diaspora just the same. Think of its land as our land. And now it needs our support. Recently, I read a wonderful book given to me by the rabbi written by Israeli author David Grossman who is a household name in Israel. It is called, To the End of the Land. It totally enraptured me. It was a poem on four legs… walking me around the northern part of Israel, en-veloping me in a story of three characters’ lives who are as much a part of Israel as Israel is a part of who they are. It is a devastating look at love and war and sorrow. As a parent, it made me truly, for once in a personal way, think about what it might be like to have a child of mine at war. As a wife, it made me think of all of the layers one experiences in a relationship so deep. As a Jew, it made me feel Jewish and in love with a place with so many conundrums. As one of the characters in the book says, a day is a very long time in Israel. So much happens in such a small amount of land making its impact greater still. After learning about the fire in the Carmel region and after reading about two characters in the book who go walking the trails of the north and the same terrain—with all of its beauty and majesty—I am doubly drawn to help the land return to its former beauty. Please help by donating something—a tree, at the minimum—to the land of Israel. Thank you.

The Religious School by Leslie Gottlieb

All proceeds from the Youth Group Bake Sale (January 30) will go to

JNF’s from Black to Green program. Thanks for your support!

http://support.jnf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=4180&4180.donation=form1

https://secure2.convio.net/jnf/site/Donation2?df_id=3180&3180.donation=form1

http://support.jnf.org/site/TR?fr_id=1620&pg=tgreeting



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGMfPV0bKQ

http://www.jnf.org/assets/audio/4israel-120910.mp3

https://secure2.convio.net/jnf/site/Donation2?df_id=3180&3180.donation=form1

http://support.jnf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=4180&4180.donation=form1



What’s Jewish about butterflies? This may sound like a silly question, but it is actually the name of a work-shop that the teachers and I attended in December. It is also the name of a book which was written by the pre-senter of this workshop, Maxine Segal Handelman. Ms. Handelman was brought into White Plains, New York from Chicago, Illinois to give this special presentation to benefit the grant recipients of S.E.E.D. (Supporting Early Emotional Development). This grant is provided by the Westchester Jewish Community Services and our JFC ECC is lucky to be one of its recipients. We are even more fortunate to have been able to attend Ms. Handle-man’s presentation. The ECC is, of course, a Jewish Nursery School which teaches Jewish culture and holi-days, but at this presentation, we learned that almost everything we teach can be Jewish. Much of the secular curriculum we cover actually has Jewish value and therefore, we only need to make the Jewish connection. Before the teachers begin to find the Jewish connec-tion, Maxine Handelman pointed out that many of the things that children learn are not taught. When the chil-dren step into the classroom they are greeted by a me-zuzah on the door and the Hebrew letters that appear on our religious school bulletin boards. During Shabbat, the classroom exhibits toy candlesticks, a Kiddush cup and pretend Challot. On Jewish holidays, the rooms are filled with traditional holiday ritual objects and the chil-dren’s own holiday creations. This environmental input informs the children that Jewish life happens here, in their classroom, their second home. In addition to what the children observe, there are other Jewish messages they receive. As children see how the teachers behave toward them and toward each other, they learn the be-haviors that our Jewish traditions embrace. When teachers welcome guests into their classroom they are exhibiting the value of “Hachnasat Orchim,” which is welcoming strangers. If a child is very sick the teachers often make a phone call with the children to the sick child or they have the classroom children create get well cards. This is the value of “Bichur Cholim,” or visiting the sick. Even when the children observe a teacher mediat-ing a problem between two children who are having trouble sharing, they are learning the importance of bringing peace between people or “Ha Va'at Shalom Bein Adam Lahavero”. The most important thing the teachers can do is to label these actions with their Jew-ish name. Along with the embedded Jewish lessons and mes-saging offered to the children, the ECC also gives direct Jewish instruction. Of course, the children learn about Shabbat and the major Jewish holidays. However, we also cover holidays that are less well-known such as Tu

B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees. On Tu B’Shevat the children learn about the growth and uses of trees and that caring for trees and nature is a very Jewish thing to do. We also teach a Hebrew blessing, over the fruit, which comes from a tree. Using Hebrew is another way to make a secular curriculum also a Jewish curriculum. When the children study about snow they learn the He-brew name for snow is “sheleg.” They remember this as they sing a Hebrew song about snow falling on different parts of their bodies. Another song, “Boker Tov” mean-ing good morning, is sung every morning at circle time giving the usual early gathering a family feeling. Hebrew is explored even further towards the end of the year when the children celebrate “Yom Ha’atzmaut,” Israel Independence Day. The children learn many Hebrew words and most certainly, the importance of Israel to the Jewish people. They begin to see how important Israel is especially when we take the time to celebrate Israel’s birthday in the same way we would celebrate each of their birthdays. The most important concept that Maxine Handel-man stressed was that although we teach many things to the children, the “Enduring Understandings” or big ideas are the things that will stay with the children and as she stated, “…make up the fabric of our daily class-room lives.” To capture the big ideas the ECC uses sto-ries, songs, discussions, and problem solving. Most sig-nificantly, the ECC makes Jewish values come alive in the classroom. So what is Jewish about a butterfly? In Hebrew, a butter-fly is called “parpar.” In May, the children will raise butterflies in class from caterpillar to chrysalis to insect which teaches them not only the life cycle of the butterfly, but also the value of kindness to animals, or “Tza'ar Ba'alei Hayyim”. Finally, the children learn compassion for the needs of others. They would like to keep the butterflies forever but they set them free. They do this because butterflies need to fly free and especially because caring about the needs of other living things is the right thing to do. Learning about be-ing Jewish does not just create enduring understanding. It is the foundation each child receives which will bring their lives meaning and gives them the values they will need to become compassionate, Jewish adults.

Early Childhood Center By Fern Tannenbaum


Rescheduled for Tuesday, January 26


The Early Childhood Center


The Religious School

Many thanks to the “Knitters Group” and all those who contributed to our hat/mitten tree.

Tu B’Shevat


From the Rabbi’s Desk (cont’d)

grievances. It is interesting to note that in Canada, where hunting is more popular than hockey, and where there are millions of legal guns in the homes of its residents, there are only...only!...about 200 shooting incidents each year. In Israel, where all (non-Orthodox) serve in the military (and some Orthodox do as well), the number of homes with guns in them is enormous; the young men serve in the reserves for a long time after their active service, and they report in armed and ready to do their duty. Yet, aside from the Rabin assassination and the massacre, in February 1994, of nearly 30 Muslims praying in the mosque in Hebron, there have been few shooting inci-dents. And both of these incidents were clearly politically motivated. So maybe it all has to do with the political rhetoric after all. Israeli politics get very heated, as we have seen from time to time. And it is getting very hot right now. A group of Orthodox rabbis recently published a letter calling on Jewish Israelis not to sell their homes to Arabs, not to rent to them, or to live beside them. Their wives subsequently published a call to Jewish women not to date or marry Arabs. Though these calls have been denounced as racist by many in Israel and in the Diaspora, it is not too fanciful to imagine that some frustrated, troubled person will use

a gun to kill an intermarried couple, or an Arab neighbour. If such a person has a gun, or can easily get a gun, the chances of this happening are too great to dismiss. So I join those who support the restriction of access to guns in this country. Though I would not be unhappy to see an end to the availability of guns altogether, I am real-istic enough to know that this will never happen here; therefore I advocate a level of serious control over guns, not their complete prohibition. I also join those who op-pose the sale of guns and bullets in discount stores in our malls. And most importantly, I encourage everyone to turn down the heat on political discourse. Language matters. We have demonstrated, in our movement, that being sensitive to the use of language increases openness to others, promotes inclusiveness, and builds community. Guns and bullets do not do these things. And political language that invokes the outlaw days of the wild west is also not constructive. I call upon all our political leaders and thinkers to change the tone of our national conversation, with an eye to saving lives. If not now, when?

(Continued from page 1)


Sam Mishkin, son of Cathy and Richard Mishkin of Pound Ridge, NY, and Aimee Tetrault, daughter of Eliza-beth and Thomas Tetrault of Georgetown, MA, are pleased to announce their engagement and plans to marry in the spring of 2012. Sam is General Manager of Giantnerd.com, an eCommerce purveyor of bicycles and outdoor equipment. Sam was Bar Mitzvah at JFC! Aimee works in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs for Novella Clinical and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology. The couple lives in the foothills of Boulder, CO, with their highly skilled moun-tain dogs, Beckett and Ellie.

Rebecca Mishkin, daughter of Cathy and Richard Mish-kin of Pound Ridge, NY, and Dang Truong, son of Dam and Duy Truong of Phoenix, AZ, are pleased to announce their engagement and plans to marry in the fall of 2012. Rebecca started working at Kaplan Testing in 2005 and is now on their national operations team. She also was Bat Mitzvah at JFC! Dang is a Senior Demand Planner for Crocs. The couple, who currently live in Boulder, CO, with their Golden Retriever Izzie, plan to relocate back to the tristate area after the 2011 snow boarding season.

JFC ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you would like to “announce” a Simcha in your family, please send the text (pictures are welcome too!) to Jolie Levy at [email protected]. Announcements must be

received by the 15th of the month to appear in the next month’s Shofar.

Please feel free to acknowledge your Simcha with an $18 donation to any JFC Fund or with a leaf on our Simcha Tree. Donation forms appear in every Shofar.



OPEN HOUSE MARCH 23 (10:00-12:00) Now Registering for 2011-2012

Our nurturing environment is a great way to start your child’s school experience.

Classes are available for 2, 3, & 4 Year Olds and Mommy & Me

Your Child will:

￭ Achieve a love of learning through play ￭ Build lasting friendships ￭ Be part of a warm community ￭ Learn to love Jewish culture

Experienced, Professional Staff Language & literacy building activities

Stimulating hands–on play Beautiful, large playground Enrichment, Music and

Jewish Culture

Lunch Bunch and Summer

Programs Also Offered.

For Registration Information

and Tours of our Center

call

Fern Tannenbaum

Director

914-763-3028

Jewish Family Congregation

111 Smith Ridge Road (Rte. 123) ￭ 1 mile S of Rt. 35 ￭ South Salem, New York 10590

[email protected] ￭ jewishfamilycongregation.org

Jewish Family Congregation Early Childhood Center ...where Family is our middle name


Kids Ask the Rabbi Question: Everyone was saying that the High Holy Days came early this year, and Chanukah was also early. But it seems to me that Purim and Pesakh are about right, towards the end of March and April. How come?

Answer: Good work, noticing this! Let’s begin by observing that the Jewish holy days always fall on the right dates...on the Jewish calendar. The difficulty arises when we try to lo-cate those occasions on our secular calendar. That’s because the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, based upon the rotation of the moon around the planet Earth. The secular calendar, a solar calendar, is based upon the time it takes for the Earth to rotate around the sun. The solar calendar is about 11 days longer than the lunar calendar. If we did nothing to adjust our lunar calendar, the festivals would wander all over the secular year, and we’d have Pesakh in Decem-ber and Sukkot in March, some years. But the To-rah actually tells us that Pesakh is a spring festi-val, and that Sukkot is to be observed at the time of the major harvest, in the fall. So we have to “correct” our lunar calendar to keep the festivals in the right seasons. This means that we have to add time to the calendar to keep the seasons and festivals “in sync”. About 2000 years ago (without a computer or a calculator) Hillel figured out how to do that; we add a whole extra month every couple of years throughout the 19 year cycle of the calendar, and we call that a leap year (on the secular calendar,

we add one extra day every four years to make a leap year). The month added, Adar II, comes between Adar (I) and Nisan. And Purim, which is observed during Adar II in a leap year, is the first event to signal the shift to keep the calendar and the sea-sons aligned. Since Chanukah occurs before Adar, it, like the High Holy Days, was “early” this year. But Purim, coming in Adar and Pesakh, coming after Adar, are both affected by this shift in alignment. Shavuot and all of the next holy days, in the fall, will all be “on time” this year, or, more accurately, a wee bit “later than normal”. It is worth noting that, aside from wanting our harvest festivals to occur at the harvest seasons, it is fortunate that Yom Kippur, when we fast all day and night, does not occur in June or July or August; those are often very hot times, and the daylight portion of the 24 hour fast is longer and would be harder in those months, than in the early fall, when the daylight and night hours are about the same in length. Muslims fast during the day-light hours every day during their holy month of Ramadan, and because their calendar is entirely lunar (with no solar correction), that month can occur at any season. Fasting during the hot, long days of the summer cannot be easy! So, as we move through winter toward spring, and you can see the daylight hours growing longer, you can look forward to Purim and Pesakh, both of which are associated with milder weather. That’s a happy thought!


Take a look at the new Code of Conduct our Religious School Kids Knesset (student government) created for all students and staff members. By the time

you see this in the February Shofar, all of us will have signed one! Ours is a school with a constitution... for the kids... written by the kids!


Donations to JFC Last Month

IF ANY DONATIONS MADE LAST MONTH ARE NOT LISTED, KINDLY CONTACT THE JFC OFFICE AND LET US KNOW.

General Fund Stephen and Roberta Margolis In Memory Of Bernard Shuler Rachel and Jonathan Clott In Memory Of David Emmer Michael Gordon and Mariana Canelo In Appreciation Of Support Given to Lila Gordon Kenny, Ellen and Jonathan Elias In Memory Of Melvin Waxman

JFC-URJ Camp Fund John and Barbara Stern In Memory Of David Emmer Lawrence and Leslie Gottlieb In Honor Of Eugene Kahn’s 80th Birthday

Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund Chuck and Ellen Cohen In Memory Of Marcy Cohen Lissau Daniels David and Stephanie Eisenberg In Memory Of Betty Shulman

Still haven’t checked out the JFC Gift Shop?

Stop in and take a look! The items really do change frequently!

If you are interested in purchasing anything,

please let the JFC Office know.


The Tzedakah of the Month

For FEBRUARY is

“MIDNIGHT RUN”

Selected by the

JFC Social Action Committee

Our Midnight Run is set for Saturday, March 5th. Please email [email protected] to let us know if you want to participate. We still have room for vol-unteers to come on the run, and for drivers as well. It is a truly meaningful experience and we encourage B'nai Mitzvah students to participate. We are also in need of people to make bag dinners. Please let us know if you are willing to help out.

Gently used men's clothing is always needed (we do not need women's or children's clothing):

Men's jeans

Backpacks

Sneakers

Belts

Hooded zipper sweatshirts

Blankets

Winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves

New men's jockey-style underwear or socks

Toiletry items: disposable razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mini-deodorant

Gallon-size zip-loc bags

Cases of water bottles

Look for information soon about the distribu-tion of holiday grocery bags for the Bronx Jewish Community Council's Project Hope program just before Passover on April 10th (during the daytime!). Let us know if you'd like to help out.

Contact Debbie Lavin ([email protected])

or Jeanette Sanders ([email protected])

JFC Social Action Committee by Debra Lavin

Todah Rabbah from the Religious School to…

David Berger for his help organizing next month’s Purim Carnival (March 20… save the

date!!!)

The Kids Knesset for their hard work on the hat/glove drive and for their work on the Brit K’heilah for our school

Jan Sanders and Jolie Levy for helping to try to save my hard drive!!!!!

The Youth Group for running its bake sale for JNF last month and for leading its 2nd Rock Shabbat!!

All of the parents who came out last month for “Bring a Parent to Religious School”

The Religious School (cont’d)

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


- - - Lots of new vendors! - - - Check website for details.



Elizabeth Amerling Kase Aufsesser Kenneth Aufsesser Blake Berg Lowell Berg Lisa Block Joshua Blum Zander Bolgar Peter Breslin Michael Carson Ellie Carter Rosie Ceisler Jillian Chipman Jeff Dodes Charlotte Dutka David Eisenberg Ethan Falconer Guss Firestein Leah Alana Friedman Victoria Friedman Iris Glass Ellen Goldstein Iliana Hellinger Jacob Hellinger Donn Henshaw Drew Hoffman Eugene Kahn Carrie Kane David Kane Adam Kirker Ryan Kirker

Hannah Klotz Benjamin Kurlander Yvonne Lerner Paula Levine Claire Lichtman Ian Marceau Robi Margolis Gary Mathias Daniel Minnock Morgan Minnock Johanna Perlman Jennifer Pink Joseph Pink Adam Portnoy Joel Portnoy Aviva Salpeter Ethan Serby Alan Sheptin Zachary Sheptin Alan Simon Zachary Sobel Barbara Strongin Mollie Tessler Eli Tubbs Pia Vandervelden Jill Waldman Zayla Waldman Michael Waxman Nita Weissman Laurie Wolkin

Please call the JFC Office when any relevant information arises or changes so all Birthday, Anniversary and

Yahrzeit listings are accurate and up to date. JFC can only

list names/dates that have been reported to us.

BIRTHDAYS

Have you considered celebrating significant birthdays and anniversaries with a leaf on our Simcha Tree of Life?

Call the JFC Office for details.

ANNIVERSARIES

Bessie Belsky

Joseph Drawec Judith Eydenberg

Sarah Feldman Gertrude Fischberg Yetta Freedman

Walter Goldman John Grzymala

Gertrude Hodes Miriam Isaacs Felicia Israel-Mucciolo

Ruth Kahn

Charlene Lavin

Mary Lazarus Philip Levens

Solomon Lichtbach Irving Reichenthal Helen Rosenblum

June Rosenfeld Charlotte Stadler

Jacob Stern Arthur Stoll Norton Worster

YAHRZEITS

David & Carrie Kane

Ken & Susan Sobel



Question: Recently I was talking with a colleague at work, who describes himself as a born-again Chris-tian. He was citing Biblical verses to prove his reli-gious beliefs, but they were not texts that I am famil-iar with. Yet he says they were all texts from the Jewish Bible. Can you explain? Answer: I will try! Christians do indeed take the Jewish Bible very seri-ously. They have to: it forms the bridge between Ju-daism and Christianity, in their minds. For Jews, the Bible is divided into three sections. The first and most sacred is the Torah, “Teaching” which consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Judaism has taught that these books contain the ideas of God, expressed in God’s own words; according to our tradition, this material was revealed by God to Moses at Mt Sinai verbatim as we have it today (Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians continue to believe exactly that). The second section, called Nevi-im, “Prophets”, con-tains the ideas that God somehow conveyed to the prophets of Israel, but which were expressed in the prophet’s own words. That makes these writings somewhat less sacred than the Torah. The third section, Ketuvim, “Writings”, contains texts composed and expressed by humans, such as Psalms, Proverbs, Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, etc. These are considered inspired (Divinely?) but not sacred. We read from the Torah every week, and we read it from a scroll, not from a printed text. We read from the Prophets (Nevi-im), on Shabbat mornings and at festivals; that is what we refer to as the haftarah, which means “concluding”, and it tells us that we conclude the reading from sacred literature with a text from the Prophets. This can be read from a printed format. The special readings for festivals, like the Book of Ruth for Shavuot and the Book of Esther for Purim, come from the Writings, and these are also read from a printed text. We read the Torah in sequence in its entirety, every year. By contrast, the readings from Prophets are

chosen because of their connection to the theme of the weekly Torah reading, so we jump around amongst the prophets, and only read excerpts, not whole books in sequence. And we read the special texts for the festivals as they occur, so we do not read all the material in Ketuvim.. In contrast, Christians read from the Jewish Bible only those texts that contribute to their religious beliefs. Their emphasis, in the context of worship, is on the Gospels and other material in the Christian scriptures. Since there is no mention of a messiah in the Torah, they read only a few sections of it in worship services (for example, they see the story of the Binding of Isaac as foreshadowing the death of Jesus). They read the prophets with greater enthusiasm, and in-terpret many verses or small excerpts to refer to Je-sus (particularly but not only Isaiah). Christians do read the Jewish Bible in Bible study classes, and often look for evidence in its texts to support their religious faith. Since we Jews do not focus on the prophets the way Christians do, and since, when we do read the proph-ets we don’t understand them the way Christians do, it is not surprising that most Jews do not recognize such Biblical quotations when they are presented to us. Moreover, a verse or two of the Bible, taken out of context for use as a proof-text for a religious belief, is an unfamiliar usage from the Jewish perspective. But, that said, it is also true that most non-Orthodox Jews today are not particularly well acquainted with our Bible, and our community is diminished by this. Lots of Jews know parts of the Books of Genesis and Exodus, but far too many know little else that is in our Bible. And, like the works of Shakespeare, the Bible is the source of innumerable quotations, which used to be considered essential to a good education. Next time you get into a discussion about the Bible with your colleague, make some notes about the spe-cific verses he cites, and then you and I can look at them from the Jewish perspective. You may feel bet-ter about responding to his thinking after that.

ASK THE RABBI


First-Year Dues Are FREE!

FREE!



Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 ECC

2 ECC

Creation Station

3 K-3/CC/SMP

Bd Mtg

4 ECC

Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

5 Gr. 7 9-10:45 RS Family Bingo Night 5-6:00

6 Gr. 4-6

7 ECC

Gr. 7

ECC Comm. Mtg. 7:30

8 ECC

9 ECC

RS Early Regis-tration Begins [ends 3/16]

Creation Station

10 K-3/CC/SMP

11 ECC Gr. 3 Service


12 Gr. 7 9-10:45

13 Gr. 4-6

Kids Knesset 10:10

14 ECC

Gr. 7

15 ECC

10-PK 6-7:30

Wise Parenting: Help Child Reach Potential 8:30-9:45 PM

16 ECC

Creation Station

17 K-3/CC/SMP YG

RS Staff Mtg 6:15-7:15

18 ECC

NFTY Conven-tion, Dallas, TX Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

19 NO Gr. 7

NFTY Conven-tion

20 NFTY Conven-tion

21

OFFICE CLOSED

22 23 24 25


26

27

28 ECC

Gr. 7

February 2011

JEWISH FAMILY CONGREGATION

P R E S I D E N T S ’ W E E K

NO ECC OR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

PRESIDENTS’ WEEK

NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

CANCELLED

Jewish Family Congregation 111 Smith Ridge Rd/Rte. 123

P.O. Box 249

South Salem, NY 10590

Non Profit Organization

Postage PAID

White Plains, NY Permit No. 9022

CURRENT RESIDENT OR

Documents

Shofar - February 2011 - Shevat/Adar1 5771