Congregation Beth Shalom|Newsletter November 2006

Previous newsletters are here. November 2006 / Cheshvan-Kislev 5767
From the President Dear CBS Family, Well-known Rabbi Hayim Donin, author of the book To be a Jew, instructs the reader that Judaism is a daily way of life. One of my favorite teachings of his is, "The best and straightest road a person should train himself (herself) to go on is the middle road (where he [she] develops the moderate quality in each and every personality trait). Rabbi Donin concluded by stating "He (she) who goes along this middle road is called a wise man (person)." Far be it for me to call myself a wise man, but I will say that I have attempted to live my life and model my behavior by walking, driving, thinking and living on the middle road. According to Rabbi Donin, the value of living your life on the middle road is that you are better able to understand the extremes or fringes and then to swing towards each extreme at a given time in one's life or particular situation without existing at the extreme perspective of life where most is judged in terms of black and white. Now, don't confuse my position with moral relativism, for I do believe that there are some absolute truths in the world. Certainly among the top of that list, we as Jews utter the Shema which declares there is only one g-d and that our G-d is the only g-d. Another truth I hold as absolute is the commandment that each of us is to "treat one another the way we want to be treated." As a "middle of the roader," I remember arguing with Rabbi Graudenz, of blessed memory, during my conversion studies. He tried to teach me that I should take every word of the Torah, Talmud, Humash or whatever text we were studying as literal. I told him I admire his ability to take the writings literally, but that when I say "Next year in Jerusalem," I did not mean it in a literal fashion. Instead, for me that utterance indicates my personal desire to achieve a certain level of mitzvah observance, community, shared vision, and emotional connectedness to all other Jews in the world. By reading these texts from a "middle of the road" understanding, one can better appreciate both the expressions of a Reform Jew as well as an Orthodox Jew. According to Rabbi Donin, by understanding the extremes, one can live a life where only the wise live. The beautiful thing about the Judaism we live at CBS, is that as the only shul in the area, we have had to live in the middle of the road. We have had to come to understand, tolerate, accept and appreciate differing forms of Judaism. To that end, we have scheduled programming for the entire spectrum of our membership. The most recent additions to our programming includes a 5-week course that Rabbi Brod of Chabad will be teaching at CBS; the Rick Recht concert we recently signed a contract to host in December; and our Introductory to Judaism course which we recently kicked off thanks to Norm Van Spronsen, Andra Greenwald and Tom Gough. By living life at the middle of the road, our CBS Family has become a wiser community. Not only has our CBS family been wise, we have also been generous. It is my privilege to report to you that at our first High Holiday Appeal in many years, each of you demonstrated your commitment to our second home by pledging over $28,000! I'd like to thank Joyce Gandelman for encouraging us to reintroduce the appeal; Loren Gonella for making such an eloquent appeal at High Holiday services and each of you for responding so generously. The Building and Grounds Committee is presently evaluating our physical plant needs to recommend to the Board a priority list of projects to make more long overdue repairs to our second home. I can guarantee you we will use your generous contributions wisely. Finally, I want to thank everyone who worked to make our High Holiday services so warm and inclusive. I must recognize the efforts of those who were primarily responsible for this year's services. Thank you Tom Gough and Joel Youngheim. Thank you also to Andra Greenwald, Ron Goldman, Laura Biewer, Marlene Gonsalves, Sandy Fitzgerald, and Shirley Martinez. I continue to be marveled at what a wonderful, warm, wise and generous group of people our community is. I look forward to meeting you in the middle of the road. Shalom, Anthony Religious School News Dear Families, As I look back on this High Holy Day Season, I smile and breathe a sigh of relief. I really did feel quite enriched by your children and the angelic voice of our cantor Elana Zelony. Thank you to Hannah Hyden & Gloria Ringsby for leading our 1st day Children?? service on Rosh Hashanah. I especially enjoyed our Rosh Hashanah Day 2 family education piece. We had a great round of High Holy Day Trivia and lots of noise with young shofar blowers. Did you know the rams horn is boiled in its preparation before becoming a shofar? I learn something new every year! Every year I get a little nervous about the sukkah preparation. Will the walls get put up in time? Will we have enough time to decorate it? Will we have enough time to say our lulav blessings? Will the sprinklers damage the decorations? Will it rain? Will we get to enjoy its beauty? Yes, thanks to Dan Brotslaw, Lara, Avi, Becca, Sam and Eva and Tracy Micheli, the sukkah was up just in time and the new walls look marvelous! We had great help from all classes in decorating the sukkah and lots of parent helpers too. Thanks to Sam Yamshon from Sacramento, we all shook the lulav and said our blessings and fulfilled the mitzvah of snacking in there too. Thanks to Esperry and our gardener Jeremy, the water was turned off and we missed the rain! And yes, we did enjoy the beauty of the sukkah during Rabbi Graudenz's memorial and the meal of comfort. Then we enjoyed Simchat Torah with Rabbi Scott Kramer and his wife Irene. Rabbi Kramer rolled out the Torah, all 90 feet of it! Wow, what a sight! We learned, we ate, we sang and we danced! Our first official Family service of the year will be Friday, November 3rd. We will dine together for a Shabbat meal at 6:00 pm and celebrate the consecration of a couple of our kinder at 7:30 pm. Please mark your calendar for the first Friday of every month for a family Shabbat service. Our goal is for all age groups to participate in the service. These services will be shorter and include a children's sermon or storytime. Anyone willing to lead one of these future special services or a children's sermon, please contact me by phone or email. We have many festive family events coming your way. Save Saturday, December 2nd for a Rick Recht concert not to miss. His music is a unique and powerful style of Jewish rock enjoyed by all ages. Also, mark your calendar for our annual Hanukkah party on Sunday evening December 17th ! Shalom, Marlene Gonsalves Religious Education Director Remember, half of every subscription to J- will go to Congregation Beth Shalom. See your Bulletin for details.	Save the date! Bring your friends and relatives to a new, exciting concert featuring well-known singer and composer Rick Recht Saturday, December 2, 7:30 p.m. Rick Recht is the top-touring musician in Jewish music, playing over 150 concerts a year in the United States and abroad. Recht is widely recognized for his appeal to youth and family audiences, not only as an exceptional musician, singer/songwriter, and entertainer, but also as a role model for involvement in Jewish life. He has become an icon for Jewish youth in the United States, elevating the medium of Jewish music as a powerful and effective tool for developing Jewish pride and identity among the masses. "We're lucky, because our fan base ranges in age from little kids to adults, which allows us to do all kinds of different concerts," said Recht. "The family concerts are a little bit of everything and the Shabbat Alive! services have their own unique, powerfully spiritual feeling. Only in the Jewish world could we experience this wonderful variety of creativity, spirituality, and interaction." You Be the Judge A new 6-week course from the Jewish Learning Institute, offered on Thursdays, beginning November 9th. Class time is 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Youth Sanctuary at CBS. Fee is $79 (textbook included). The course is CLE accredited for attorneys. Register the first night of class. Oneg Shabbat Hosts Nov. 3 -- Consecration: Religious School Nov. 10 -- Jacobs & Palitz Families Nov. 17 -- Abanathie & Appel Families Nov. 24 -- Martinez & Skolnick Families Thank you for participating. Please remember to include fruit as an alternative dessert. Thank You Our thanks to the Brotslaw Family and Tracy Micheli for putting up our new sukkah this year. It was decorated by the kids, and several meals were enjoyed within it during Sukkot. Thanks to Shirley Martinez who coordinated the Break the Fast meal offered at the end of Yom Kippur and assisted with compiling the extra supplements for High Holy Day services. Prayer Books Needed We are in need of more Chol Havarim prayer books. This is a nice way to make a donation in memory of or in honor of someone. Did You Know ... ? ... That the Pirkei Avot, the Wisdom of our Ancestors, truly, is filled with wisdom? In it, Rabbi Mattia ben Charash teaches: "Be the first to extend greetings to every human being." Rabbis Shammai and Yishmael further tell us to "greet every person with a cheerful face." If we approach our fellow human beings without waiting for them to greet us and acknowledge each one with warmth and good cheer, just think about how much nicer our world might become. "Get Well" Information Needed If you know of a congregant who is ill or in the hospital, please help us include them for calls, visits, and the speedy recovery list by letting the office staff know. Please remember that hospitals are not permitted to share information with the public, including the synagogue. Are You Getting Our Weekly eMail? If you are not getting our weekly CBS email, let me tell you what you might be missing. Our weekly email is sent out on Thursdays, and includes yartzets observed, weekly activities, a Torah summary, congregational "get well" list, and special announcements. If you would like to be added to this list, please contact Laura Biewer (cbslaurab@sbcglobal.net or 571-6060). Don't miss another week! Inkjet Cartridge Recycling Program Our last box of ink jet cartridges earned $101.10 for CBS. This is a very easy way to help CBS earn extra money. Thank you for your past support and we hope that more of you will think of recycling your used ink jet cartidges by placing them in the recycling bin in the foyer. Scrip News We carry O'Brien's, Gottschalks, Richland Market, and Starbucks. These are in stock and available for purchase. Safeway and Macy's If you shop at Safeway or Macy's, we ask that you consider registering your store cards with escrip. Every time you make a purchase, you generate a percentage of your purchase for CBS. SaveMart If you shop at SaveMart, please register for a SHARES card. Forms are available in the foyer or call the CBS office and we will mail one to you. If you have any questions on any of these programs, please call the CBS office at 571-6060.

Previous newsletters are here.

November 2006 / Cheshvan-Kislev 5767

From the President

Dear CBS Family,

Well-known Rabbi Hayim Donin, author of the book To be a Jew, instructs the reader that Judaism is a daily way of life. One of my favorite teachings of his is, "The best and straightest road a person should train himself (herself) to go on is the middle road (where he [she] develops the moderate quality in each and every personality trait). Rabbi Donin concluded by stating "He (she) who goes along this middle road is called a wise man (person)." Far be it for me to call myself a wise man, but I will say that I have attempted to live my life and model my behavior by walking, driving, thinking and living on the middle road.

According to Rabbi Donin, the value of living your life on the middle road is that you are better able to understand the extremes or fringes and then to swing towards each extreme at a given time in one's life or particular situation without existing at the extreme perspective of life where most is judged in terms of black and white. Now, don't confuse my position with moral relativism, for I do believe that there are some absolute truths in the world. Certainly among the top of that list, we as Jews utter the Shema which declares there is only one g-d and that our G-d is the only g-d. Another truth I hold as absolute is the commandment that each of us is to "treat one another the way we want to be treated."

As a "middle of the roader," I remember arguing with Rabbi Graudenz, of blessed memory, during my conversion studies. He tried to teach me that I should take every word of the Torah, Talmud, Humash or whatever text we were studying as literal. I told him I admire his ability to take the writings literally, but that when I say "Next year in Jerusalem," I did not mean it in a literal fashion. Instead, for me that utterance indicates my personal desire to achieve a certain level of mitzvah observance, community, shared vision, and emotional connectedness to all other Jews in the world. By reading these texts from a "middle of the road" understanding, one can better appreciate both the expressions of a Reform Jew as well as an Orthodox Jew. According to Rabbi Donin, by understanding the extremes, one can live a life where only the wise live.

The beautiful thing about the Judaism we live at CBS, is that as the only shul in the area, we have had to live in the middle of the road. We have had to come to understand, tolerate, accept and appreciate differing forms of Judaism. To that end, we have scheduled programming for the entire spectrum of our membership. The most recent additions to our programming includes a 5-week course that Rabbi Brod of Chabad will be teaching at CBS; the Rick Recht concert we recently signed a contract to host in December; and our Introductory to Judaism course which we recently kicked off thanks to Norm Van Spronsen, Andra Greenwald and Tom Gough. By living life at the middle of the road, our CBS Family has become a wiser community.

Not only has our CBS family been wise, we have also been generous. It is my privilege to report to you that at our first High Holiday Appeal in many years, each of you demonstrated your commitment to our second home by pledging over $28,000! I'd like to thank Joyce Gandelman for encouraging us to reintroduce the appeal; Loren Gonella for making such an eloquent appeal at High Holiday services and each of you for responding so generously. The Building and Grounds Committee is presently evaluating our physical plant needs to recommend to the Board a priority list of projects to make more long overdue repairs to our second home. I can guarantee you we will use your generous contributions wisely.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who worked to make our High Holiday services so warm and inclusive. I must recognize the efforts of those who were primarily responsible for this year's services. Thank you Tom Gough and Joel Youngheim. Thank you also to Andra Greenwald, Ron Goldman, Laura Biewer, Marlene Gonsalves, Sandy Fitzgerald, and Shirley Martinez. I continue to be marveled at what a wonderful, warm, wise and generous group of people our community is. I look forward to meeting you in the middle of the road.

Shalom,
Anthony

Religious School News

Dear Families,

As I look back on this High Holy Day Season, I smile and breathe a sigh of relief.

I really did feel quite enriched by your children and the angelic voice of our cantor Elana Zelony. Thank you to Hannah Hyden & Gloria Ringsby for leading our 1st day Children?? service on Rosh Hashanah. I especially enjoyed our Rosh Hashanah Day 2 family education piece. We had a great round of High Holy Day Trivia and lots of noise with young shofar blowers. Did you know the rams horn is boiled in its preparation before becoming a shofar? I learn something new every year!

Every year I get a little nervous about the sukkah preparation. Will the walls get put up in time? Will we have enough time to decorate it? Will we have enough time to say our lulav blessings? Will the sprinklers damage the decorations? Will it rain? Will we get to enjoy its beauty? Yes, thanks to Dan Brotslaw, Lara, Avi, Becca, Sam and Eva and Tracy Micheli, the sukkah was up just in time and the new walls look marvelous! We had great help from all classes in decorating the sukkah and lots of parent helpers too. Thanks to Sam Yamshon from Sacramento, we all shook the lulav and said our blessings and fulfilled the mitzvah of snacking in there too. Thanks to Esperry and our gardener Jeremy, the water was turned off and we missed the rain! And yes, we did enjoy the beauty of the sukkah during Rabbi Graudenz's memorial and the meal of comfort. Then we enjoyed Simchat Torah with Rabbi Scott Kramer and his wife Irene. Rabbi Kramer rolled out the Torah, all 90 feet of it! Wow, what a sight! We learned, we ate, we sang and we danced!

Our first official Family service of the year will be Friday, November 3rd. We will dine together for a Shabbat meal at 6:00 pm and celebrate the consecration of a couple of our kinder at 7:30 pm. Please mark your calendar for the first Friday of every month for a family Shabbat service. Our goal is for all age groups to participate in the service. These services will be shorter and include a children's sermon or storytime. Anyone willing to lead one of these future special services or a children's sermon, please contact me by phone or email.

We have many festive family events coming your way. Save Saturday, December 2nd for a Rick Recht concert not to miss. His music is a unique and powerful style of Jewish rock enjoyed by all ages. Also, mark your calendar for our annual Hanukkah party on Sunday evening December 17th !

Shalom,
Marlene Gonsalves
Religious Education Director

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

Save the date!

Bring your friends and relatives to a new, exciting concert featuring well-known singer and composer

Rick Recht

Saturday, December 2, 7:30 p.m.

Rick Recht is the top-touring musician in Jewish music, playing over 150 concerts a year in the United States and abroad. Recht is widely recognized for his appeal to youth and family audiences, not only as an exceptional musician, singer/songwriter, and entertainer, but also as a role model for involvement in Jewish life.

He has become an icon for Jewish youth in the United States, elevating the medium of Jewish music as a powerful and effective tool for developing Jewish pride and identity among the masses. "We're lucky, because our fan base ranges in age from little kids to adults, which allows us to do all kinds of different concerts," said Recht. "The family concerts are a little bit of everything and the Shabbat Alive! services have their own unique, powerfully spiritual feeling. Only in the Jewish world could we experience this wonderful variety of creativity, spirituality, and interaction."

You Be the Judge

A new 6-week course from the Jewish Learning Institute, offered on Thursdays, beginning November 9th. Class time is 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Youth Sanctuary at CBS. Fee is $79 (textbook included). The course is CLE accredited for attorneys. Register the first night of class.

Oneg Shabbat Hosts

Nov. 3 -- Consecration: Religious School
Nov. 10 -- Jacobs & Palitz Families
Nov. 17 -- Abanathie & Appel Families
Nov. 24 -- Martinez & Skolnick Families

Thank you for participating. Please remember to include fruit as an alternative dessert.

Thank You

Our thanks to the Brotslaw Family and Tracy Micheli for putting up our new sukkah this year. It was decorated by the kids, and several meals were enjoyed within it during Sukkot.

Thanks to Shirley Martinez who coordinated the Break the Fast meal offered at the end of Yom Kippur and assisted with compiling the extra supplements for High Holy Day services.

Prayer Books Needed

We are in need of more Chol Havarim prayer books. This is a nice way to make a donation in memory of or in honor of someone.

Did You Know ... ?

... That the Pirkei Avot, the Wisdom of our Ancestors, truly, is filled with wisdom? In it, Rabbi Mattia ben Charash teaches: "Be the first to extend greetings to every human being." Rabbis Shammai and Yishmael further tell us to "greet every person with a cheerful face." If we approach our fellow human beings without waiting for them to greet us and acknowledge each one with warmth and good cheer, just think about how much nicer our world might become.

"Get Well" Information Needed

If you know of a congregant who is ill or in the hospital, please help us include them for calls, visits, and the speedy recovery list by letting the office staff know.

Please remember that hospitals are not permitted to share information with the public, including the synagogue.

Are You Getting Our Weekly eMail?

If you are not getting our weekly CBS email, let me tell you what you might be missing. Our weekly email is sent out on Thursdays, and includes yartzets observed, weekly activities, a Torah summary, congregational "get well" list, and special announcements.

If you would like to be added to this list, please contact Laura Biewer (cbslaurab@sbcglobal.net or 571-6060). Don't miss another week!

Inkjet Cartridge Recycling Program

Our last box of ink jet cartridges earned $101.10 for CBS. This is a very easy way to help CBS earn extra money. Thank you for your past support and we hope that more of you will think of recycling your used ink jet cartidges by placing them in the recycling bin in the foyer.

Scrip News

We carry O'Brien's, Gottschalks, Richland Market, and Starbucks. These are in stock and available for purchase.

Safeway and Macy's
If you shop at Safeway or Macy's, we ask that you consider registering your store cards with escrip. Every time you make a purchase, you generate a percentage of your purchase for CBS.

SaveMart
If you shop at SaveMart, please register for a SHARES card. Forms are available in the foyer or call the CBS office and we will mail one to you.
If you have any questions on any of these programs, please call the CBS office at 571-6060.