Jewish Community Center of

Long Beach Island

E-Letter

February 26, 201617 Adar I 5776

Contents

A Torah Message from the Rabbi

Kol Hakavod

The Week Thar Was...

Upcoming Activities

Community Activities

Membership Dues

TD Affinity Program

Name Badges

This Week's Events

Service Schedule

Yahrzeits for Next Week

Minyanim

Congregation News

Connection Corner

Sisterhood Stuff

Gift Shop

Giving Opportunities

JCC Caps

Text Blast Sign Up

Documents & Links

A TORAH MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI

Parashat Ki Tissa contains one of the most precarious moments in Jewish history. The Israelites have made and prayed to the golden calf and God, enraged, threatens to destroy the entire community. The stress level is high.

How is the crisis averted? Moses, by engaging in thoughtful conversation with the Holy One, convinces God to change the plan.

For the purposes of this little piece of prose, the details of the conversation are not important. What is important is that by engaging in thoughtful and deliberate conversation, God and Moses provide a model for how to diffuse a tense situation. God ultimately decides not to end the Israelite story just as it is beginning in earnest, and the Israelites are left to kvetch for another day. (And we know they will.)

All successful relationships begin with good communication.

This week I had the honor of attending the funeral Mass for Sister Kathleen "Kate" Murphy, who was a beloved and integral part of the St. Francis community for several years. May she rest in peace and may her memory be for a blessing.

Sister Pat Klemm gave a beautiful, eloquent, warm, and often humorous, eulogy. Prominently featured in her talk was the fact that Sister Kate had a special relationship with Rabbi Jack Friedman, Z"L. She explained that, because of this relationship, Sister Kate never missed a JCC Interfaith service. As I looked around, you could tell that the St. Francis community was moved by the reference to Rabbi Jack and that for them his memory is truly for a blessing.

When I wrote to Ali Friedman to let her know about the eulogy, she replied:

Sister Kate was a warm, loving, caring funny lady who touched so many lives. She left her handprint on my heart and on Jack's. Last time I was with sister Pat, we called sister Kate and we had a chance to talk. The clergy at St Francis are all wonderful.

Good memories create goodwill and strengthen community.These memories begin with good communication. Good communication, in turn, helps to forge good relationships. Rabbi Jack was, from what I gather, continuing the good interfaith work begun by Rabbi Sam Nunberg, Z"L. I hope to continue and to nurture the tradition of relationship that both of these thoughtful spiritual leaders began.

Because of the good relationship that God and Moses had, and because they were in conversation, despite a grievous malfeasance by the Israelites, the vast and glorious history of the Jewish nation continued.

May St. Francis and the JCC, as sister LBI communities, continue our conversations, may we learn together, may we, each in our own traditions, share connection to holiness together, and my we work together to repair the world and to bring about a time of universal peace. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom - Rabbi Michael S. Jay

KOL HAKAVOD CAMPAIGN

Please considerbeing a part of this campaign to supplement the clergy needs of our congregation. This is a separate, voluntary commitment and is additional to our low annual dues obligation. HERE IS THE LINK TO BRING UP THE DONATION FORMKOL HAKAVOD

THE WEEK THAT WAS...

SUNDAY MAH JONGG

A table plus one enjoyed mah jongg in the Social Hall last Sunday morning

JCC OF LBI SOUTH...

The annual get together of JCC ladies in Florida took place on Tuesday with 23 women in attendance. Sorry no picture this year.

ROAMING RABBI

Rabbi Jay visited the "cafe" at Acme last Sunday and Wednesday to continue his program to reach out to Jews and non-Jews in our community . He reported that on Wednesday morning "The Acme was not doing much business while I was there; however, I spoke with a few folks. I was asked what made something kosher, whether Jews believe in an afterlife, and why we do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. I get asked these questions a lot."

We will let you know when he will be "schmoozing" at Acme again.

JCC Member Lori Israelite chats with Rabbi Jay

at Acme on Sunday.

Barbara Marcus and Rabbi Jay

at Acme on Wednesday

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

MAH JONGG

Wednesdays 12:30 - 4:00 PM

Please contact the office if you are planning on coming to the JCC on Wednesday to play mah jongg so we can let people know there will be a table.

PURIM BALLET

The Ariel RivkaDance Company will be performing an original ballet entitled, "Book ofEsther: The Journey of Queen Vashti and Queen Esther" on Sunday, March 6,2016 at noon. The event community- wide event will be hosted by Temple B'nai Israel, 1488 Freehold Road, Toms River.

Proceeds from the event will provide scholarships to children from theOcean County Community to attend a Jewish Summer Camp Program during the summer of 2016.

Lynn Berkowitz will be ordering a block of tickets for this extra-ordinary program. Tickets are $10/Adult, $5/Child Ages 5-16 and $30/Family. Contact Lynn directly to get your tickets. 609-709-3160

For more details open up this Flyer:PURIM BALLET

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

Lighthouse International Film Society Presents:

Screening and Director Discussion

Film - A Wing and A Prayer

Director- Boaz Dvir

Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016

7:30 pm

Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and Sciences

Address:120 Long Beach Blvd, Loveladies, NJ 08008

Phone:(609) 494-1241

Admission $5.00 - Free for LIFS members

The documentary A WING AND A PRAYER tells the remarkable, if little-known, story of an improbable group of World War II veterans who risked their lives and American citizenships to give the newborn state of Israel a chance to survive.Narrated by William Baldwin, the documentary features interviews with more than 20 of the operation's key aviators, their family members and historians.WWII veteran Schwimmer and his men helped reshape history, yet history books have ignored them. "A Wing and a Prayer" fills in that missing chapter."A Wing and A Prayer" features firsthand accounts of daring escapes and heart-pounding action by Schwimmer, Lewis and other members of the group, including Christian radio operator Eddie Styrak.Styrak arrested by the British for trying to bring Holocaust survivors into the burgeoning Jewish state, had to escape prison to join Schwimmer's operation.Moved by the plight of Holocaust survivors and Jews trapped in Palestine, former U.S. Air Transport Command flight engineer Adolph Schwimmer masterminded a plan to assist the besieged Palestinian Jews. Schwimmer's group - made up of Jews and non-Jews - eluded the FBI, outsmarted the U.S. State Department and created fictitious airlines to help the Israeli army ward off attacks from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. A WING AND A PRAYER follows the twists and turns of this clandestine operation.

Director Boaz Dvir will be on hand for a Q and A following the screening. Boaz Dvir is an award-winning filmmaker and Penn State University journalism and film faculty member. His first documentary, "Jessie's Dad," won Best Documentary at the ITN Distribution Film & New Media Festival in Los Angeles and the CINE Special Jury Award.

Click here to see the trailer:

MEMBERSHIP DUES

We are OVER 300 FAMILIES STRONG thanks the continued support of our members with their annual dues contributions.

Members should have received their 2016 Membership renewal notices in December. Our 2016 expenses have already begun so we would appreciate receiving your dues payments as quickly as possible. Your personal membership date sheet included in the mailing, should be sent, with any corrections, along with your check. If you haven't done so yet, please contribute to our annual High Holiday Appeal.

In order to keep our records correct, please indicate the amount of money being sentfor dues, name tags, High Holiday Appeal and/or Membership Directory ads.

Current renewal forms are available on our web site:MEMBERSHIP FORMS

TD AFFINITY PROGRAM

Easy money!

Do you have an account with TD Bank?

You can contribute to the JCC withoutit costing you a cent. TD Bank will pay us on the number of accounts in our TD Affinity Club. There is no minimum number of members. We automatically receive $10 for every checking account and .01% of the balance on Savings Accounts. In addition we receive $50 for any new accounts. This is strictly confidential and the JCC does not know the amount in any of the accounts.

We just received a check for $456.00 from TD Bank. So think about joining this program and helping the JCC to reap the benefits.

NAME BADGES

If you did not order a name tag, we will be putting in another order. Here is the link for the form to order your name tag: BADGES

JCC INFORMATION

THE OFFICE IS LOCATED AT

2411 Long Beach Boulevard (24th Street)

Spray Beach, NJ 08008

ENTER THE BUILDING DURING OFFICE HOURS

THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR.

PRESS THE ENTRY BUTTON ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE FOR ADMITTANCE.

Mailing Address:

2411 Long Beach Blvd.

Spray Be