From the President

Shalom Havarim....

The Jewish calendar consists of a circle of "holy days" that we have come to call "Holidays."  It is a misnomer to call these days "holidays," and much more accurate to think of them as "holy days."  One may wonder why do there seem to be so many "holy days" in the Jewish calendar.  One of my favorite Jewish texts, entitled The Jewish Holidays by Michael Strassfeld, explains "The Jewish people ... have developed a map for traveling in time.  Called the 'festival cycle,' this map has its origin in the Torah and has continued to develop and change even in our own era."  Strassfeld continues, "The special days of the festival cycle are not random moments scattered over the year, but purposeful occurrences that draw their power from multiple sources ... the natural world and its seasons, myth, religious tradition, folk customs ... and historical events in the life of our people."  In order to understand one holy day, you must understand the annual cycle of the holidays and how one holy day transitions to the next.

In February we celebrated Tu B'Shvat, the 15th of the month of Shvat.  This holy day serves the agrarian purpose of counting the age of trees.  Why would we want to do that?  Well, to provide the basis by which to comply with the Torah commandments related to the consumption, distribution and donation of the fruit.  Tu B'Shvat has also come to be a day many celebrate our connection to Eretz Israel by planting trees in Israel and connectedness to the earth in general by planting trees in the diaspora.  On a spiritual level, rabbis have taught us that by eating a variety of fruit on Tu B'Shvat, we uplift our spiritual selves.  Strassfeld says, "The basic concept behind this ritual is to increase the flow of G-d*s emanation/blessings into the world.  By eating various kinds of fruit with the proper intention, we aid in the refruictification of our world from the divine Tree of Life."  This past Tu B'Shvat, some 60 CBS members celebrated nature and G-d*s gift of life by buying and planting nearly 20 trees in Modesto's Beardbrook Park.

What is the connection between the birthday of trees and the following holy day of Purim you ask.  Believe it or not the two holy days are tied to each other.  The entire book of Deuteronomy was "given" between Tu B'Shvat and Purim.  Since this book of the Torah is a resharing of the laws previously mentioned in Torah, Strassfeld tells us, "This period [between Tu B'Shvat and Purim] was seen as a second giving of the Torah.  Both the book and the period of the year embody a notion that there is a second chance to hear and accept the Torah."  Tradition tells us it was on Purim that the Jewish people finally, freely accepted Torah.

As Jews we remember our free acceptance of Torah by celebrating the original Mardi Gras:  Purim.  Purim is supposed to be a day where "everthing is topsy-turvey ... where our spirits run wild even in the most straight-laced sectors of the Jewish community."  The day is commemorated with costumes, parodies, plays, festive meals, and the consumption of alcohol.  Why all this foolishness?  Arnold Eisen [the new chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary] teaches us that "For one day in 365 we forget the easy way--so that the other 364 we can work on the harder path to the real forgetting of Amalek's behavior:  Tikkun Olam.  Tikkun Olam starts on the first day of Purim, with the requirement to feed the poor.  Amalek would simply have let the hungry starve."  We are commanded to blot out the memory of Amalek, the attacker of the poor, weak and hungry Jews fleeing Egypt.  Purim teaches us to counter our attackers by working harder to perfect our common world through Tikkun Olam.  To me, the moral of the story:  Counter the actions of the wicked by doing good.  I look forward to working with our entire CBS family to blot out evil this Purim.

Hag Sameach,

Cafe Shalom News

Cafe Shalom is off to a great start this year.  We have had 3 successful Bake Shops with more to come.  Victor Meissonnier is in charge of the Bake Shop this year, along with Tammy Kempner.  If you would like to attend, host or donate to the bake shop, please contact Victor.

Valli Mendlin has agreed to be the Volunteer chairwoman for the second year.  Thanks, Valli.  If you have a favorite place you like to work for Cafe Shalom, call Valli now to reserve your spot.

Anne Porteous has again agreed to be in charge of the Silent Auction, along with help from Gloria Ringsby.  If you have items to donate please contact Anne or Gloria.

We are also still looking for some live entertainment for the event.  If you know of good entertainers, please contact the chairperson of that committee, Lara Brotslaw.

The following are some of the other committee chair people you may want to contact to volunteer your services or money:

• Sponsorship -- Loren Gonella/Anthony Gonsalves
• Kitchen Manager -- Betty Rubin-Smith
• Raffle -- Elsa McCoy
• Publicity -- Joel Youngheim
• Program -- Celia Angel
• Sound System -- Eli Lester
• Decorations -- Celia Angel

Thanks to all of these marvelous volunteers.

Bakeshop dates are 10am - 12 noon on these Sundays:  March 11, March 18, March 25, April 15, April 22, and April 29.   Watch your bulletin for upcoming updates on Cafe Shalom.

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

Our Tu B'Shevat community tree planting was an underground success!

About 60 people gathered at Beardbrook Park at 10 a.m. on February 4th to plant 19 trees.

As the children arrived, they kept asking, "Why are we planting trees here?  There are already so many!"  Well, the answer was given by Kerry Elms, President of The Modesto Tree Foundation.  Beardbrook Park was one of our City parks that needed trees replaced, due to flooding, age and a need for more shade in the summer months.  Kerry gave an explanation of the four different varieties of trees we planted and why they were chosen.

I recited a poem titled, "The Never Ending Prize," written by Haley Wasserman, a 6th grader from Canada.  We explained our purpose for the community planting project and why Tu B'Shevat became a Jewish Holiday.  We all gathered around the first tree to plant together and said the Shehecheyanu, the prayer we say when we are doing something for the first time.  Our City official gave us the instructions we needed to plant the other 18 trees throughout the park and we scattered about.  After the planting was complete, we gathered again for a nosh and some playtime.  With some food leftover at the conclusion of our event, we bagged up the lunches and gave them to the homeless people in the park.

They were extremely appreciative of our gifts.  I must thank our over 32 donors that contributed trees and made this project come to life.  The tree money is in a special account and we will be planting the balance at next year's community tree planting as well as needing to add to this pot of funds.  The place will be determined next year for the worthwhile project.  I also want to thank the people that helped me make sandwiches for this day; Linda Gough, Cameron Matthews (my nephew), Aleah Gonsalves, and Kelly Villalobos.  We truly did our part of repairing a small piece of the world.

Remember, half of every subscription to J- will go to Congregation Beth Shalom.  See your Bulletin for details.