Author: Rabbi Michael Farbman

Shanah Tovah! May the New Year be filled with learning!

What a whirlwind of a summer it has been! I was privileged to attend the Rabbinic Torah Seminar at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and engage in 10 days of profoundly impactful learning, together with some 150 colleagues from the United States, Israel, and Europe. We explored the last 100 years of Jewish history, based on key dates that have shaped the modern Israel: 1917 – the Balfour Declaration was signed, 1947 – the UN voted on partition plan, and 1967 – the 6 Day War occurred. I was greatly impressed by the faculty of Shalom Hartman and have expanded and deepened my knowledge and understanding of the narratives that surround the modern Jewish state. iengage logoI am delighted to announce that I will be offering the Hartman ‘iEngage: Israel’s Milestones and Their Meanings’ course this year at Temple Emanuel. It explores the pivotal events of 1917, 1947, and 1967 as key moments when Zionism unleashed new thinking about the meaning of Jewishness for generations to come. This iEngage series grapples with the different ideas and values that shape the meaning of modern Israel, Zionism, and Jewish identity today. Together we will engage in a new values-based discourse about Israel, including topics such as nationhood, land, Sovereignty, Jerusalem, Occupation and Moral Red Lines. You can read more about the course and the schedule here, and registration is now open – I hope that many of TE members use this wonderful opportunity to engage in serious learning and conversation. The course will be taught on Sunday mornings and will begin on October 15th.

This is the year we mark the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, and there will be multiple occasions to celebrate, to learn, and to engage with Israel in this coming year at TE. I am delighted to share with you that Julian Resnick, a master educator and travel guide (who guided our journey through Spain this year), will be leading the TE trip to Israel next summer, July 15-26, 2018. More details, including cost and program highlights will be available soon, but please mark your calendars now for this exciting TE Travels opportunity!

Last but not least, I am honored to share with all of you that I have been accepted into the Masters in Sacred Theology program at Yale Divinity school. I will pursue this program part-time over the course of the next two years as part of my sabbatical, deepening my knowledge and skills. I am extremely grateful to Temple Emanuel for this wonderful opportunity, and I cannot wait to begin my classes!

I wish you all Shanah Tovah, a Happy New Year 5778, and may it be filled with a joy of learning for all of us!

HIGH HOLY DAYS FOOD PROJECT 2017 / 5778

  Dear Temple Emanuel Congregants:

             For the twenty fourth consecutive year, Temple Emanuel will participate in the High Holy Days Food Project.  The food we collect will be divided between the food pantries of both Jewish Family Service (JFS) and the Town of Orange’s Human Services Department where they help feed the many needy among us.

             When you come to the synagogue for services on Kol Nidre night (Friday, September 29th) or on Yom Kippur (Saturday, September 30th), please be as amazingly generous as you’ve always been in the past.  Maybe even more so this year! Once again, please bring as many bags and cartons as you can filled to the brim with boxes, jars, and cans of non-perishable food.  Perhaps a trip to Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club would allow you to purchase in bulk.  If necessary, we’ll even help you carry in the food from your car.

             Suggested items:  pasta, pasta sauce, canned veggies, peanut butter, dry milk, coffee, tea bags, canned tuna / chicken / turkey, soup, canned fruit, macaroni & cheese, flour, sugar, rice, boxed potatoes, chili, baby & toddler foods, ‘meals-in-a-can’ like beef stew, hash, & hearty soups, salt-free foods for people with hypertension and sugar-free foods for people with diabetes.  Food need not be labeled as kosher.  We will even accept dog & cat food, toiletries, and paper products like toilet paper as this will certainly help folks stretch their food dollars as well as help them care for their loving pets. 

             Please note: Please do not bring old, out-dated, leftover, or open packages.  We just wind up throwing these away as they are unusable.

            As you can imagine, the need this year is greater than ever.  We’re counting on you to help support this important tzedakah project and these two agencies as they serve the needy right here in our own local communities.  

 Thank you!

 Michael Farbman         Alan Kliger           Will Sherman

 Rabbi                               President              Coordinator, Food Drive 

iEngage: Israel’s Milestones and Their Meanings A Shalom Hartman Institute Lecture and Study Series Led by Rabbi Michael Farbman

Through video lectures, text study, and lively group discussion, we are pleased to bring the world-renowned faculty of the Shalom Hartman Institute into the Temple Emanuel community this fall.

iEngage: Israel’s Milestones and Their Meanings explores the pivotal events of 1917, 1947, and 1967 as key moments when Zionism unleashed new thinking about the meaning of Jewishness for generations to come. Memory is a central element in defining modern Jewish identity. As we look to Israel’s future, we need to engage anew with our past and explore its meanings and consequences. This iEngage series grapples with the different ideas and values that shape the meaning of modern Israel, Zionism, and Jewish identity today. Together we will engage in a new values-based discourse about Israel, including topics such as: nationhood, land, Sovereignty, Jerusalem, Occupation and Moral Red Lines.

Each session includes text study and discussion led by Rabbi Michael Farbman, and video lectures and roundtable discussions with leading Hartman scholars.

Sundays | Oct 15 & 29, Nov 19, Dec 3, Jan 7 & 21, Feb 4 & 25, Mar 18 (snow date) 10:15 – 11:45 am

Cost including materials: $ 36.

Register online

Jewish Teen Education – JTE

 

JTE Open House and March of the Living Information Session

Tuesday, September 5  |  7 p.m.  |  JCC of Greater New Haven

March of the Living is a an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust, visiting concentration camp sites and then traveling to Israel for Israeli Independence Day. The program will run in April 2018 and is open to all junior and seniors in high school. Leadership and representatives from March of the Living will be on hand on September 5th so come learn more and bring a friend! The open house will also be a great opportunity to sign up for JTE fall semester and classes.

For more info and to register follow this link

MOL logo

TE Board of Directors 2017-18

President: Alan Kliger, president@tegnh.org

First Vice President: Robin Levine-Ritterman 

Second Vice President: Vlad Katsovich

Secretary: Lewis Shaffer, secretary@tegnh.org

Treasurer: Lenny Farber, treasurer@tegnh.org

Assistant Treasurer: Matt Nierenberg, treasurer@tegnh.org

Board of Directors

Barbara Berkowitz

Marilyn Fischman

David Korman

Steve Rivkin

Howard Schachter

Michael Shanbrom

Rise Siegel

Bruce Spiewak

Mark Weber

Melissa Perkal, Past President

Susan Pinsky Bleeks, Sisterhood Representative

Yerushalaim shel zahav: Jerusalem of gold…

Every year that I have served Temple Emanuel, my summer begins in a similar way: I find myself sitting in a chair in the faculty residence at Camp Eisner, writing the Shofar article for the summer edition. Every year I strive to have it all finished before I go to camp, but alas this little ritual persists, despite my best efforts and the gentle encouragement from Caryn and Jen, our wonderful Shofar editor and designer (who do a phenomenal job every single time – we are so lucky and so blessed to have their energy and talents!).

Well, this year is different! Camp Eisner asked me to come for one week only this year and later than usual – and I suddenly found myself able to go to a Rabbinic Torah Seminar at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem that takes place in the first two weeks of July every year.  A great program that brings together rabbis from across the Jewish denominational world, this has been my dream for quite some time. Therefore, thanks to camp scheduling and the sabbatical time available, by the time you read this article I will be in Jerusalem, engaged in study and conversations for almost two weeks! I am truly excited and a little anxious – in this year when we mark the 50th anniversary of Unified Jerusalem, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Occupation of the West Bank, that the many difficult questions will no doubt permeate this year’s Shalom Hartman seminar and my time in Jerusalem.

To paraphrase my friend Julian Resnick, going to Jerusalem most likely cannot produce answers, but it can help me deepen my questions, and to learn, listen, and breathe Israel, with all its complexity and all its beauty. Together with much of the Jewish world, I was devastated to hear of the recent Israeli cabinet’s proposal, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s approval, to abandon the negotiated plan for the Kotel (Western Wall) egalitarian space, as well as a serious challenge to non-orthodox conversions performed in Israel – a move that is as devastating to us as it is detrimental to the Israeli society at large.  Our National movement, Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) as well as American Reform Zionist Association (ARZA) have issued very strong statements, as did the Jewish Federations of North America and a host of other voices and are considering a coordinated response as I write this column. And while I am truly upset at these most unfortunate actions, it will not make me love Israel any less – it will only strengthen my resolve to work even harder, to listen more intently, to build relationships, and to learn. This is not the end, just a bump in the road.

I look forward to sharing my journey and my learning with you soon. In the meantime I wish you all a wonderful summer – see you at Shabbat on the Beach on July 28!

 

First Days as President

I started my role as president of Temple Emanuel on July 1st. It seems to me a large and forbidding task; the little voice on my shoulder is saying, “Don’t screw it up! We have a beautiful community, an inspirational rabbi, a rich tradition, and a future full of promise… if you don’t screw it up.” I lie awake at night thinking what I can do to do this job responsibly.

I am so lucky to start this job at such a wonderful time for Temple Emanuel. Under the remarkable leadership of President Melissa Perkal and Rabbi Michael Farbman, we have been part of a renewal over the last several years. Our sanctuary and school have transformed to “one campus” with a new education wing, and we have seen growth in our school enrollment, staff, and programs. The excitement among young families with children in our community is palpable. We have financial security with a balanced budget, funds for programming and for maintaining our building and grounds. We have a rabbi who daily goes above and beyond – – with spiritual leadership, lifecycle stewardship, inspirational teaching for young and old, attention to the sick and families in need, and a vision of our potential.

Most impressive to me, we have a tradition of involvement and commitment. How do we survive – and thrive – – as a small synagogue with only one full-time employee (the rabbi), a part-time school administrator, and part-time teachers, caretaker, bookkeeper, and office administrator? We succeed because so many members take an active part in our synagogue life. Our Board of Directors brings experience, wisdom, and excitement to our strategic thinking and planning for our future. Working groups or committees do great work with Caring Community assuring attention to families in need or transition, Ritual Committee working with the rabbi to craft our community practice, Building and Grounds doing all the work to keep our spaces functioning and safe, Garden Committee creating and maintaining our incredible expanding, beautiful garden, Aesthetics assuring a beautiful and appropriate space, Finance managing our precious dollars, Education for both children and adults, Tikkun Olam fulfilling our commitment to giving… and many more. Individual members find joy and friendship working together to keep TE our spiritual and community home.

Why do these committed members do it? I thought about this on the mid-June afternoon following our annual meeting. Directed by Anne Eisner, dozens of men, women, and children working in 90-degree heat moved large stones from a high pile behind the sanctuary to their new home in the gardens surrounding the buildings. Others prepared a picnic for the “laborers” with hamburgers (meat-full and meat-less), hot dogs (all beef, of course), fixings, and cold beverages (including beer, of course). Why?? Fellowship, commitment, love.

If as a new president, I am able to sleep at night, it will be because I can count on the many members who make the commitment to participate. We need you!! Please find what most interests you in our synagogue life.  Join one of our working groups or committees, and share in the joy of community life. If the idea of this makes you hesitate, don’t hesitate too long… the Talmud says, “Three things are good in a little measure and bad in large: yeast, salt and hesitation.” (Berakot, 34a)  As I look out on the next years for TE, I see promise, excitement, and a spiritual home alive with young laughter, learning, and strong community.

Alan Kliger

Erev Shavuot and Confirmation Service – Tuesday, May 30th at 7:00 pm

shavuot aPlease join us on Tuesday, May 30th at 7:00 pm for the Erev Shavuot service and Confirmation ceremony. We will celebrate the Festival of Shavuot and the giving and receiving of the Torah with this year’s Confirmands who will participate in leading the service.

yizkor candle animatedDon’t miss this special service, which will also include Yizkor (memorial service).