Category: Featured

Change, Commitment, & Continuity

Melissa portraitA Tale in Three Parts

Part 1

CHANGE: Remember, the first 7:30pm service at TE will be on January 20, 2017.  The Family Service remains at 6:30pm on the first Friday of each month, and on January 13th we have a special Martin Luther King Service at Mishkan Israel at 7:30pm.  At the end of June, we will again send out a Survey Monkey to see what people thought of the change to see if we plan to continue it or to make other changes. The other possible change brewing is a switch to a new prayerbook for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (see the Rabbi’s Summer Shofar column for more on the mahzor).  The Ritual Committee will be leading several focus groups for people to interact with Mishkan HaNafesh. Please call Barbara Berkowitz or Barbara Goldhamer to be involved in one of them.

COMMITMENT: Our members’ commitment to our community is so fabulous.  I can only look on, cheer, and be thankful for their hard work. The last few months have seen some wonderful projects completed: the High Holy food drive collected 3.500 pounds of food under Will Sherman’s leadership, dozens of turkeys were donated to Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen at Thanksgiving under the watchful eye of Peter Stolzman, and 146 baskets were created by the school and some adult volunteers under the organizational skills of Julia Katsovich – one of our madrichim.  Julia is the first teen to head such an ambitious project, and it was a smashing success.  During this time Laurel Shader, the band, and the choir got together to perform, and Risé Siegel and friends helped to organize our first Annual Shir Magic concert in memory of Jerry Brieger z’l; thus, I believe we have solidified our reputation as the “sing-agogue” in the area!  Put in your calendars now the Debbie Friedman concert by our band and choirs at the Towers on February 12th and Yale Whiffenpoofs in concert at TE on February 26th.

CONTINUITY: It with great pleasure that I can announce that Rabbi Farbman has agreed to lead the congregation for another five years and that he and the Board have agreed on his contract.  Rabbi Farbman has been essential to the growth and renewed vitality of our community, and we can look forward to continuing to go from strength to strength in the coming years.

A Strong Community

Community is an interesting word. I encounter it in many different places, and often I find myself feeling that the word is overused, if not misused. A quick search provides the following two main descriptions for community: 1) a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, and 2) a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 17b) provides a list of 10 things it considers essential for the proper Jewish life to happen: a court empowered to punish the guilty; a communal tzedakah fund, monies for which are collected by two people and distributed by three; a synagogue; a mikveh (ritual bath); sufficient bathroom facilities; a doctor; a blood letter [i.e. a popular healer]; a scribe; a butcher; and a Torah teacher for children. Luckily for us, sufficient bathroom facilities are not really much of an issue in the developed world – although it is easy to see why this was an important item on the list, since it directly relates to public safety and health! Most of the elements required for a healthy Jewish community remain very much true to this day, even though some of the elements (such as courts) are really in the hands of the State.

Synagogue is at the heart of our Temple Emanuel community, as is our Hebrew school. Tzedakah is crucially important, and we teach our children from a very young age to care about the world at large and about our local community through regular acts of tzedakah. On a wider scale, we support Jewish Family Services and the incredibly important work they do every day in our local community. And then, of course, there’s the JCC which offers not only multiple opportunities to look after one’s body, but also numerous cultural and educational programs all throughout the year. It is a place where we often meet and intersect with other groups in our New Haven Jewish community, where we come together to mark Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut, to celebrate Israel – this list can go on for quite some time.

As many of you know, the JCC suffered a serious fire in December. Luckily, no one in the building at the time was hurt, and the two firefighters who suffered some smoke inhalation have since fully recovered. The great many JCC and Jewish Federation programs have been displaced, and we have stepped up, together with other local synagogues and agencies, to open our doors to various programs, classes, meetings, a weekly bridge game, and even a Zumba class! People often say that at the time of crisis you can learn a thing or two about individuals, and the same is true about communities. I must say, watching the Greater New Haven Jewish community come together to support the JCC has been remarkable. I was also very moved to learn that great number of non-Jewish local agencies and organizations reached out and offered help, something that cannot be underestimated.

It will take months for the aftermath of the fire to be sorted – sadly, big parts of the building sustained serious smoke and water damage. Anyone who has experienced a fire or a flood knows just how devastating it can be. But knowing that you have a widespread community ready to offer help and support can make a huge difference. I sure am proud of our community every day, and I am glad that the crisis only reinforced my feelings of pride.

Whiffenpoofs at Temple Emanuel – February 26 at 3:00pm!

whiffs-2016-17Come out for an incredible afternoon of A Cappella Music!

Every year, 14 senior Yale men are selected to be in the Whiffenpoofs, the world’s oldest and best-known collegiate a cappella group. Founded in 1909, the “Whiffs” began as a senior quartet that met for weekly concerts at Mory’s Temple Bar, the famous Yale tavern. Today, the group has become one of Yale’s most celebrated traditions.
And now, the Whiffenpoofs are adding Temple Emanuel to their list of performance venues! Meet the entire group, ask questions, and have your picture taken with them!
Don’t miss the chance of a lifetime to see this incredibly talented group locally at Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven! Seating is limited, so buy your tickets early! See you there!

Get your tickets here!

TE annual food drive – and a huge thank you.

food-drive-2016 food-drive-2016-2My dear friends, I am amazed, impressed, thankful, and absolutely blown away by your response to this year’s Yom Kippur Food Drive!  Twenty-three years ago, on our first attempt to collect food for the hungry in our community, “little” Aaron Webber, then only an adolescent, helped me weigh the food we collected.  Repeatedly stepping on and off my bathroom scale, we calculated that we collected nearly a ton (just under 2000 pounds) of  food.  We were thrilled with the results and thanked you all for your generosity.  Fast forward and skip ahead to this year.  As you all know, the food we collected was divided into two piles and donated to the food pantries of both the Jewish Family Service and the Town of Orange.  JFS continues to weigh the food donated by local congregations and recently informed us that we gave them 1,752 pounds of food that translated into 1,348 meals for the needy.  They further told us that we donated more food than any other participating congregation!  How about that!  But that’s only half the story.  Knowing that we donated an equivalent amount of food to Orange means that this year you donated more than 3,500 pounds.  That ‘s 1,500 pounds more than our first year.  Almost double.  Did I say I’m blown away by your overwhelming generosity?  Now while that’s a pretty high bar to jump over next year, I have every confidence.  Thank you so very much for your response to this important  tzedakah project.

Will Sherman

 

 

 

The Times They Are A-changin’

7-30-clockIn 1963, songwriter Bob Dylan wrote, “the times they are a-changin.” For Temple Emanuel this is true in more ways than one! Daylight Savings will soon end; we will have a new President in the White House; and the results of the TE Service time survey are in and are being acted upon. Whether or not Bob Dylan decides to accept the Nobel Laurette in literature I think he got it right when he said, “If your time to you is worth savin’, Then you better start swimmin’, Or you’ll sink like a stone, For the times they are a-changin’.” And I believe TE has the ability to change with the tides of our growing congregation (165 member units strong now!).

For many years the time for the start of services has been the subject of animated discussion for the Ritual Committee and for the community. Three years ago the Ritual Committee charged the Board with the task of looking at the issue and seeing if we needed to change. Our first explorations into this task involved discussions with individuals and small groups and a paper survey. This gave us good information but didn’t represent a majority of the congregation (only about 71 responses). So the Survey Monkey was created and was answered by 135 members.

Briefly, when asked, 57% of the responders preferred a late service with 55% preferring the 7:30pm start time. Of the 43% of the responders who preferred an earlier service, 58% preferred the 6:30pm time. In both groups there were about 20% with no preference. While this is not a scientifically validated survey, it does give us a feel of where we are as a congregation. The Board feels they have enough information to act upon and begin a small test of change for 6 months.

Beginning January 1, 2017 we will begin our usual service at 7:30pm instead of 8:00pm. The Family Service will remain at 6:30pm on the first Friday of the month. At the end of June, we will again send out a survey to see what people thought of the change and if we plan to continue it or make other changes. I believe we still need to provide a few more 6:30pm opportunities for our congregants, but we don’t want to create a confusing, unwieldy schedule.

Thank you to all of you who provided this valuable input. Thank you to Robin Levine-Ritterman for spearheading the effort, creating the Survey Monkey, and presenting the results to the Board. Thank you to the Board for voting on a change. I am looking forward to hearing from many of you over the next few months.

 

New this year: Monthly Shabbat Morning Minyan – January 7 at 10:00 am

HagbahahReady to try something new? Join our informal monthly Shabbat morning minyan to enjoy the majesty of the full Torah service with the haftarah reading! Come experience Shabbat in a different light.

Future dates: 

February 4

March 4

We are exploring the possibility of organizing childcare at the time of this service, please let the office (office@templeemanuel-gnh.org) know if you are interested!

Shir Magic: Remembering Rabbi Jerry Brieger with a special concert of Kol B'seder at Temple Emanuel, November 6 at 6:30 pm

Jerry BriegerThis summer we said goodbye to our teacher and friend, Rabbi Emeritus Gerald ‘Jerry’ Brieger, z”l. This special concert of the legendary Kol B’seder will honor the memory of this wonderful man, who has impacted numerous generations of TE members over nearly 40 years of dedicated service to this community. With this event we are establishing a new annual tradition of honoring Rabbi Jerry’s memory with a special musical event at TE.
There will be a special tribute booklet created for this event, and we very much look forward to opening our doors on the night of November 6 to members of the Greater New Haven Jewish community and beyond.

For more info and to get your tickets, please follow this link.

About our performers:

Kol B'sederKOL B’SEDER
Authors of classic Jewish songs such as “Shalom Rav” and “Lo Alecha,” Cantor Jeff Klepper and Rabbi Dan Freelander have been singing together for 45 years. Their love of Jewish music began at summer camp in the late 1960s — a few years later Jeff and Dan, inspired by the late Debbie Friedman, were composing new melodies that would radically change the way Jews sing and pray. Today, their songs are woven into the fabric of synagogue worship around the world. Kol B’Seder has been a mainstay on the American Jewish scene for decades, erasing boundaries, uniting the Jewish community. A Kol B’Seder concert is the “ultimate Jewish sing-along,” an experience you, your family and friends, will never forget.
Rabbi Daniel Freelander is President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He is a co-founder of the North American Jewish Choral Festival, and was honored with the Debbie Friedman Award by the Union for Reform Judaism in 2015.
Cantor Jeff Klepper has been the cantor of Temple Sinai of Sharon, MA since 2003. He is co-founder of the Hava Nashira workshop for song-leaders, and teaches at Hebrew College’s School of Jewish Music in Newton, MA.

The World of Mussar is opening before you … and you are invited to enter.

mussar-treeOur community will soon be embarking on a program of study and practice in the way of the Jewish spiritual tradition of Mussar and everyone is invited to join.

Mussar might best be described as “Jewish spiritual ethics” and has been practiced for centuries by people who sought to cultivate and strengthen the qualities of the inner mensch. Mussar has been undergoing a revival in the Jewish world, and we are fortunate to be able to offer this curriculum created by The Mussar Institute, the leaders in the field. This program is endorsed by the Union for Reform Judaism and is suitable for all, regardless of level of Jewish knowledge. There are no pre-requisites nor is Hebrew required

everyday-holinessCome join in small group study, led by Rabbi Farbman, as we explore together, in a safe and caring environment, what the Jewish tradition has to teach us about the traits of humility, gratitude, equanimity, patience, order and honor, among others – and discover how you can improve these qualities in your own life. This 19 week course will begin with an orientation session on November 20th, then meet approx. every other week, starting on December 4 and ending on May 21st. You will receive a copy of the course textbook “Everyday Holiness” by Alan Morinis textbook, and in group meetings and personal study and practice, we will explore these soul traits together.

Alan Morinis himself will serve at Temple Emanuel Scholar-in-Residence this year, March 24-26, an incredible opportunity for our entire community.

Mussar offers a Jewish pathway and a set of teachings that will help you find your way toward becoming your best self, and our community to reach its higher potential.

BOTH OF THE GROUPS HAVE REACHED MAXIMUM CAPACITY AND REGISTRATION HAS BEEN CLOSED. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE WAITING LIST, PLEASE EMAIL THE OFFICE: office@templeemanuel-gnh.org

So You Think You Can Pray: Jewish Liturgy Course continues January 5 @ 7:30 pm.

Seder Tefilot Emanuel 001Ever wanted to know what the words of different Jewish prayers mean? Explore the order of the service in greater detail? Get to learn your way around the prayerbook? This class is for you!
mishkan-imageJoin Rabbi Farbman and learn your way around siddur on Thursday nights.
Nov 3 and 10,
December 1.
January 5, 12 and 26
February 2, 9 and 23
March 2 and 9