Monthly Messages
Message from the Rabbi: August 2008
Dear Friends,
Many of you know that I love Professional Football. I don’t have a favorite team; I am a fan of the game. I love the strategy, the teamwork, the individual effort, the pressure of the clock, and so many other aspects. I also love the history of the game, so much so that I convinced my dear wife to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, for our first wedding anniversary! (I know, I owe her big time for that one!)
Football is a team sport but played by individuals. There are many parallels to life, which we live as individuals and part of groups and a society. In football you have to do your part, play your position, and defend your territory, but you also have to rely on your teammates to do likewise. No one can win the game all by themselves, and yet without the individual effort, the team fails.
One of the descriptive phrases used to describe a great effort on the playing field is “intestinal fortitude.” When the ball is on the goal line and it’s player against player, one side against another, each person has to dig down deep and find what they are made of. The same is true in life. If we think back to the great struggles of our age, it was the intestinal fortitude demonstrated by individuals that ultimately won the game. We can think of Abraham Lincoln, the Suffer Jets, Gandhi, the pioneers who settled and created the State of Israel, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others who showed personal courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
I am proud to be a Jew and a rabbi, and particularly proud to be a Reform Jew and a Reform rabbi. Why? Because Reform Jews, Reform Judaism, and Reform rabbis have been at the forefront of the struggles for all the advancements this society has made. We are the ones who have put our personal needs aside and given everything for the team. We, who were once slaves in Egypt and who know what it is like to be strangers in a strange land – we are the ones who have fought for the oppressed and downtrodden of this world. We have fought for economic justice and we spoke of caring for the earth long before Global Warming ever received any media attention.
Of course, sometimes there was a price to be paid. Rabbis had to take unpopular positions, even unpopular in their own congregations and communities. Their jobs, homes, and sometimes, their very lives were threatened. But they stood up to evil and they showed the intestinal fortitude that it took to change what they knew to be wrong. As an inheritor of that tradition, I wonder sometimes how I would have reacted and acted in similar circumstances.
Many rabbis today are afraid of controversy. They fail to speak out about the moral issues of today, and they fail to demonstrate moral leadership as so many of those who came before did. Of course, it has to be done in a proper way and this, I believe, is an ever-changing dynamic given the current climate in which we live.
I invite you, then, to come to our second Friday service and program on August 8th where I will show a new video produced by the American Jewish Archives entitled, “Voices of Moral Leadership.” This film, debuted at the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ annual conference in Cincinnati last April, highlights several cases of Reform rabbis who showed moral leadership and changed Judaism and our society. Following the film, we will discuss the proper role of rabbis today on difficult and controversial issues. I’d love to hear your input.
I hope you are all having an enjoyable and safe summer.
Kenneth Milhander
Message from the President: August 2008
Yin and Yang. I am not sure what the Jewish equivalent is. Perhaps mazel and tsuris? Whatever terms are used, the concept of balancing forces bringing equilibrium to the universe is comforting to me. Surely we could never truly value all the beauty, miracles of life, and love that surround us were it not for the bad things in life that give perspective to those good things. Conversely, how could we live in a world of constant pain without also experiencing the many joys in life?
However true the above statement is, please forgive me for feeling that tsuris has had more than its fair share of time with our congregation over the last few months. I am always informed by our Temple office or by friends when health issues affect our Temple family members. I have been overwhelmed with sadness by the number of calls I have received these past few months informing me of serious illness or loss of life. I pray for full recovery to all those in need of healing and for strength to our Temple families that have experienced the loss of a beloved family member. I am grateful for the presence of Rabbi Milhander and Rabbi Asa who can help bring perspective to me and to all of us.
The Plans for Project Legacy are moving forward nicely and construction could begin by February, 2009. For more details, please refer to Lila Pesner’s and Henry Cohen’s article in this issue of the Scroll. There is just one “small” detail that I want to address. We still need more money! See, I told you it was a small detail. We are at a point now where we are very confident of the amount of money needed for the Project, and we have successfully raised 80% of the funds necessary to reach our $2.4-2.5 million total. We are pursuing all avenues to get us to our goal.
Your support has been asked for many times by me and by others. Most of you have contributed both generously and to your ability. However, please remember that reaching 80% of our goal is tantamount to reaching 0%. We will not begin construction unless our financial goals and plans are 100% in order. I wish I had the words to say to you that would magically inspire you to contribute more. I do not have those words because, in truth, the correct words must emanate from inside you. The words that come from inside me break down the simplest way I know. If all 250 families at Temple Beth Tikvah contributed an additional $1.10 a day for 5 years we will have raised an additional $500,000 and the Project Legacy dream that started in 2004 will become a reality in 2009. I have raised my family’s modest pledge by $2,000 ($1.10/day). Whether your family has already pledged generously or whether your family has not yet pledged, I pray that you will find the words inside you that will allow you to reconsider your commitment. Doing this together is the only way it will get done.
Greg Weitzman
ECLC News: August 2008
The school year ended so quickly! Thanks to the Weitzman family, the kids enjoyed every lick of it!! Yes, I said lick. Greg and Danny Weitzman came in on our last day of school and surprised the kids with an ice cream party. Just imagine 35 kids, a vat of ice cream and 80 degree weather! Luckily we were prepared as the kids were already enjoying an end of the year mud day celebration. It was messy fun! THANK YOU to the Weitzmans for the wonderful treat and a new tradition!!
The children are enjoying Camp I Am, especially messy art day and water days. So far they have been exposed to dance, music and puppetry. One of our personal highlights was during our week of ballet. ECLC Alum Emilie Liron came in and talked about all the different types of shoes worn for each style of dance. She also performed and taught the children some basic dance steps. Thank you, Emilie, for sharing your talents with us!! Our famous person of that week was Mikhail Baryshnikov. There is nothing quite as cute as hearing a two-year-old say his name! During our music week we discovered one of our new parents, Erica Steele, is a musician/songwriter. She came in and performed an original song, as well as some kid favorites. The Didgeridoo (an Australian instrument) was a crowd favorite.
School enrollment for the fall is open; however, space is limited!! Most classes are close to capacity, so come in soon for information about registering your child.
We would like to welcome our newest students: Maya Zalob, Hannah and Benjimin Green, and Liam Summerhill.
Karin Cook
Religious School News: August 2008
I recently had a conversation with a friend who teaches English as a Second Language. As she described the students with whom she works, I was reflecting on my experience in teaching adults who have been in past adult B’nai Mitzvah classes. I have to admit that as much as I like teaching children, there is nothing like seeing adults learn a new language.
Many times adults enter a beginning Hebrew class with fear that they will be unable to learn something new. They need a little extra coaxing to “get their big toes wet,” but after the first lesson, they see that Hebrew is not beyond their grasp. Even those who are sure that they will never be able to read a prayer in Hebrew, read Hebrew without vowels, or chant from the Torah – they do accomplish the seemingly impossible.
Scientific research tells us that it is important that we continue to exercise our brains throughout our lives, if for no other reason than to fight brain degenerative diseases (this is admittedly not the reason I play mah jongg every chance I get!). What better way to maintain brain cells than by learning a new language, or challenging yourself to linguistically dissect a piece of Hebrew text that you have always read/sung by rote!
Rabbi Milhander and I will be starting a new class of Adult B’nai Mitzvah this fall. We will meet for the Judaica portion (taught by Rabbi Milhander) on Mondays at 5:00-6:00 p.m. I will then teach the Hebrew section from 6:00-7:00 p.m. No previous Hebrew experience is necessary (I won’t even take for granted that you know that Hebrew is read from right to left J). The class will culminate in the winter of 2010 with our Adult B’nai Mitzvah service.
If you never had the opportunity to celebrate your Bar/Bat Mitzvah (remember, you become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah when you turn 13 years of age, regardless of whether you participated in a service and chanted from the Torah), here is your chance to reclaim that milestone in a way that will be meaningful to you as an adult. I can’t promise that you won’t get nervous when you read in front of your classmates, but remember that everyone will be there to cheer you on … and they will feel the same way. Being in an adult class like this is also a way to make new friends and participate more easily in Shabbat and holiday observances.
If you are interested in joining our class, call the TBT office, or email me (miriamtbt@aol.com). I look forward to hearing from you … and teaching you!
Miriam VanRaalte