Join congregants from Congregation B’nai Emunah, Beth Israel Judea, Ner Tamid and Or Shalom for an early evening family program. There will be a tantalizing study session with seven local rabbis.
May 26th from 5pm to midnight at Beth Israel Judea on Brotherhood Way.
Come for a dairy and fish potluck dinner, an ice dream bar and cheesecake. Havdalah and late night Torah services.
On Tuesday, April 24 2012, the Sofer On Site is coming to Congregation B’nai Emunah to train participants in the craft of proactive Torah care and ongoing maintenance.
The Holy Rollers training is an amazing opportunity for us to learn and to continue to care for our scrolls!
A “HOLY ROLLER”…
CAN be any congregant… senior, family member or post B’nai Mitzvah student.
WILL learn what to look for and how to ask questions concerning issues regarding their Sefer Torahs. (Sometimes you will be shocked at what you see!)
WILL be trained to properly roll, lift and dress the Torah scroll. This process can lengthen the life and maintain the quality of your scroll.
WILL learn to appreciate the advantage of handling a scroll properly and the consequences when it is not.
WILL know (when appropriate) how to physically clean, sew and repair tears in a Sefer Torah.
Sofer on Site are Scribes, Educators and Master Storytellers.
Join us from 7-9pm next Tuesday, April 24 at Congregation B’nai Emunah.
Rabbi Mark Melamut of congregation B’nai Emunah will participate in San Francisco’s Holocaust Memorial Day. It will take place on April 22, 2012 at 4.30pm at the Forum at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Please contact Jessica Mintrum at 415-4491281 or jessicam@jfcs.org if you have names of perished family members to contribute.
By Sharon Bleviss
May is a time of transitions, from the cold and rainy (well, sort of) winter to the flowers of spring and then to the lazy days of summer. May is a time of transition at Congregation B’nai Emunah as well. This year, at the Annual General Meeting when elections are held, my term as President of the Board of Directors will come to a close after six years.
People have asked me alternately, “Why are you leaving?” and “How did you last this long?” In response to the first question, I would say that in order for any organization to be healthy, leadership must rotate, new ideas must circulate and different styles must emerge. To answer the second question, I would say that it has been a fulfilling ride. Despite the long hours, often fraught with risk-taking and high stakes decision-making, the sense of accomplishment has been exhilarating. To be able to see the fruits of one’s labor so clearly is very reinforcing, and makes the job well worth it.
What has transpired at B’nai Emunah in the last six years? In 2006, the shul was without a rabbi, was deep in the red and was losing membership. Our spirit, along with lay and cantorial leadership, kept the place afloat, and generous bequests filled the coffers just in the nick of time, over and over again. Remarkably, not only do we now have a great rabbi in Rabbi Mark, but the shul is securely in the black, and is gaining new members regularly. What has been the constant is the sense of community that has been our hallmark, and that is the glue that continues to hold us together. The challenges have been great, but excellent teamwork on the part of the board, which takes its responsibility quite seriously, has enabled B’nai Emunah to operate in a financially efficient manner, allowing energy to be spent on education, religious practice, and programming.
So, I will pass the scepter on May 20th to a capable successor and step into the role of Immediate Past President. I will continue to be involved on the Education and Youth Activities Committee, as well as Sisterhood, and many other functions. I will be there at services and events, and back stage when needed. And I look forward to seeing my family more often.
It has been a privilege to serve this special community and am eager to step into my next role.
L’Shalom, Sharon
We are poised this Shabbat before Passover, Shabbat Hagadol, the Great Shabbat, in anticipation of our imminent holiday celebration (or in anxiety of the ‘to-do list’). Whether with family, friends, or even alone, we are instructed to retell the story of the Exodus and to ask both old and new questions. Translating “instruct” to Hebrew, we come up with the verb, “horah” (not the dance), meaning also, “to aim or direct.” This is related to the word we are familiar with, “torah.” In this week’s reading, the word, “torah,” appears over and over, referring to the specific instructions regarding the various sacrifices to be offered by the priests.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
If we think of the word “torah,” as “instruction,” what specific instructions would be helpful and meaningful for us to receive this Shabbat?
And, what instructions would be better put off for now, remaining in the fine print to be read at a later time?
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mark
One of the early comments at our Sunday, March 25th discussion probed the original Hebrew title, “Davar Hayah Kakhah,” Certainly those three words didn’t equate with the English title “My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner”! After some discussion we agreed the Hebrew title’s literal translation was the first line of the book and one of Meir Shalev’s Grandmother’s Tonia’s favorite expressions: ”This I How It Was.”
Most of us enjoyed the charming, playful and humorous portrayal of the author’s maternal family. His mother parents were among the moshavniks of Nahalal, Israel’s first moshav. Like a crisp caricature, each relative’s unique and idiosynractic traits come alive with Meir Shalev’s nostalgic brushstrokes. We all enjoyed learning more about these early pioneers from the Second Aliyah, as their daily chores and heavy tasks of an agricultural life were described from the eyes of the author as a child and young man.
Not everyone enjoyed the memoir to the same extent. Several felt that sections of the book dragged, some characters were not well developed, and that perhaps it would have been better as a short story. But everyone had something to say about the eccentric, obsessive-compulsive Grandmother Tonia, her war against dirt, and her strange relationship with a General Electric vacuum cleaner sent to her by her husband’s American, capitalist brother. You just have to read it to learn how so many different versions of their family history, stories, and memories add up to a rich, touching and overall enjoyable story.
The Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative movement’s rabbinical association, has released an excellent document about Passover. It details the steps that are needed to “kasher” the kitchen, as wells as lists of exactly which foods are or are not permitted.
The document is a twelve page PDF file available at http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/pesah/rabbinical-assembly-pesah-guide-2012.pdf.
