Temple Times
May 2015
Congregation Shaareth Israel
Lubbock, TX
Congregation Shaareth Israel is a vibrant center of Jewish life, which recognizes our rich
heritage as a Jewish Community, and strives to maintain and enrich Jewish life on the South
Plains through meaningful educational, spiritual, social, cultural and worship experiences.
Friday May 22nd CSI marks Shavuot,
Rabbi Vicki
7:30 pm Services
Rabbinic Reflections:
From Purim to Pesach we count and prepare.
Ridding our dwellings and selves of Chametz,
of that which is inflated,
of that which stands in the way of our making
descent
that we might feel the experience of slavery.
Opening a new book of Torah
4th of Sivan, B’Midbar
Cheesecake and chocolate oneg by Rabbi Vicki
If you’re inspired to bring something for the oneg
table please email
Rabbi Vicki!:)
Then from the second night of Pesach we again
count and prepare.
7 weeks, from Pesach to the holiday of Shavuot.
Refining 7 basic character traits (midot)
kindness, severity, truthfulness, endurance, humility,
etc.
that we might be ready,
to receive Torah.
A colleague and classmate, Rabbi Janet Marder once
wrote
how we as American Jews have two different cultural
metaphors for success.
Friday May 15th Lay-led
Western culture, she wrote, speaks of ‘getting ahead’.
The central symbol being a ‘race,’
with ‘winners and losers,’
only the ‘fittest’ garnering the ‘prize.’
•
6:15 pm Service
6:45 pm Shabbat Dinner
Bring your side-dish
RSVP to Fela Shturman at
[email protected]
by Wednesday May 13th
Jewish tradition however envisions
life as a struggle to climb a mountain.
To reach the highest levels of moral, emotional, and
ethical conduct.
With no external prizes.
Dinner: $5.00 per adult, $2.00 per child
The reward?
the views you get
as you walk upwards.
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Community
May Yahrtzeits
Zichronam Livracha
May their Memories
be for blessings
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2
3
4
10
15
16
20
27
29
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12 Iyar Nathan Houstman
13Iyar Alfred Salfield
Zelda Perlman
Samuel Weisberg
Sidney D. Freid
Allan Barasch
Mollie Indin
David Friedman
Annie Lehman
Helene Shiver
Sylvia Stettner
Jules Fenson
Mary Abraham
Anna Quicksilver Cohn
Donations
Shabbat Services,
Thank you to all our donors for
your continued support.
Our members are invited to
reserve a date to
Host an Oneg Shabbat!
GENERAL FUND
•
•
Betty Skibell in memory of
Bernard Skibell and David
Skibell
Steven and Donna Mark in
memory of Ernestine
Goldstucker
BUILDING FUND
•
Please contact Carla and
Mike Calfin to reserve your
Oneg. Call them to set up
arrangements.
1st Parsha: Acharei-Kedoshim
7:30 pm
(Lev. 16:1-Lev. 20:27)
8th
Sandy Lehman in memory
of Sylvia Shopmaker,
Annie Lehman, and Sylvia
Lehman
Parsha: Emor 7:30 pm
(Lev. 21:1-Lev. 24:23)
15th Shabbat Dinner 6:45 pm
Parsha: Behar-Bechukotai
6:15 pm
(Lev. 25:1-Lev. 27:34)
22nd Parsha: Bamidbar 7:30 pm
(Num. 1:1-Num. 4:20)
29th Parsha: Naso 7:30 pm
(Num. 4:21-Num. 7:89)
June:
5th
Parsha: Behaalotecha
7:30 pm
(Num. 8:1-Num. 12:16)
If you’d like to sponsor an
oneg:
Contact:
Contact Info for Members:
Synagogue: 794-7517
Rabbi Hollander:
email her at
[email protected] please
visit at www.vickihollander.com
June-June Wagner and Mitch
July-Sellie and Henry Shine
Aug-Jonathan and Tova Marks
Urgent Matters:
please contact Neil Kurtzman
at [email protected],
or Rabbi Hollander.
Bulletin Submissions
News, reports, information, etc.
can be submitted to the bulletin
editor.
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Corner
Shabbat Service Info:
Todah Rabbah, our heartfelt thanks to:
• Carla and Mike Calfin for hosting-coordinating May’s onegs!
May 1st Service 7:30 pm,
• Andrew Friedman and Jennifer Mirll for their most kind gift to CSI
Lay-led
th
of their Chuppah!! and our warmest mazel tov! yet again!
12 of Iyar, Acharei Mot-K’doshim
May 8th Service 7:30 pm,
Rabbi Vicki
19th of Iyar, Emor
May 15th Service 6:15 pm,
Lay-led-Shabbat dinner
26th of Iyar, B’har-B’chukotai,
Shabbat mevarchim
• Bring your side-dish
RSVP to Fela Shturman
[email protected] by
Wednesday May 13th Dinner:
$5.00 per adult, $2.00 per child
May 22nd Service 7:30 pm,
Rabbi Vicki
CSI honors Shavuot
4th of Sivan, B’Midbar
May 29th Service 7:30 pm,
Lay-led
11th of Sivan, Naso
June 5th Service 7:30 pm
Rabbi Vicki
18th of Sivan, B’Haalotcha
Remember to Check our
CSI website for the
calendar at csitemple.org:
It’s now being updated
regularly!
Remember: In Case of Bad Weather:
Should we have intense or threatening weather and you are unsure of
whether synagogue will be open: Before you leave home:
Call the synagogue’s answering machine: 806-794-7517: if services,
religious school or meetings are cancelled we’ll put a message on the
answering machine
at least an hour before the event
Check your e-mails before you leave: we’ll send round notice in case of
cancellation
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May’s Turning Torah: Classic questionsclassic tales
V’Kol Sasson, V’Kol Simcha, V’Kol Chatan,
V’Kol Kallah!
Voice of Rejoicing, Voice of Gladness, Voice of the
Bridegroom and voice of the Bride comes to CSI!
A time of Story: May 8th-A Garment for the Moon
As we pass through the moon’s fullness, moving
towards the holiday of Shavuot,
time of celebrating the receiving of Torah,
We linger with a tale of the restoration of the moon’s
light.
Wedding blessings!
We will celebrate the upcoming wedding as a
community
of Allison Burrell and Robert Cook!
Friday June 5th, 2015
Their wedding will take place end of June in Corpus Chris&, but we’ll have the gi( of blessing
them before they wed!
From Eastern Europe, 19th century
A tale from some say, the Baal Shem Tov, while
others say Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav
To aid us, ready.
Refuah Shleimah:
The Barasch family invites you to
join them
∼
∼
for the unveiling of Bernie Barasch
∼
∼
st
Sunday, May 31 at 10:30 am
∼
∼
At the City of Lubbock cemetery.
May his memory be for blessing.
∼
∼
∼
Arnold Loewy
Sheila Garos
Terry Bennett
Robert Skibell
Tova Marks
Gwen Meyer, Jonathan’s mother
Jennifer Brock’s father, Michael
Weitman
Tracee Skibell
Allison Burrell
CSI Men’s lunch:
Thursday May 7th
Religious School
Corner:
Wild Burger Grille 11:45 am
Sunday
May 3rd,10th and 17th
10:00 am
Parent Meeting the
17th at 10:30am
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Gaining a wider,
more meaningful perspective on life.
Some traditions link the reading of Ruth on
Shavuot:
Each year an invitation’s issued to join in.
Ruth is read on Shavuot because the timing of its
events occurred ‘at the beginning of the barley harvest,’ (Rabbi David Abudraham, Seville circa 1340)
To perhaps, like Moses did when shepherding his
flock,
stop a while.
Warmly and Chag Sameach,
Rabbi Vicki
• The reading of Ruth on Shavuot is a reminder of
the standing at Mt. Sinai, when the people of Israel
received a total of 613 mitzvot- 606 mitzvot in addition to the 7 precious Noahide Laws. The numerical
value of the Hebrew letters comprise the word ‘Ruth’
is 606. (Teshu’ot Chen)
Megillat Ruth was written by the prophet Shmuel, to
indicate the genealogy of King David from Ruth the
Moabite. We learn from the writing of this Megilah,
that there was Divine assent in the matter, for the end
of the Megilah recounts David’s ancestry and David
was both born and died on Shavuot” (Bechor Shor)
A time of conversation: May 22nd B’midbar
The day before the holiday of Shavuot
Shavuot Resources-if interested in readingemail me:
See the wonders on the side of the road.
Measure if the path you’ve been walking is the one
that best serves.
Here’s hoping you’ll set some time aside
and join us, for a little mountain climbing.
• “Ruth: a universal journey,” Essay from New
Traditions 1985, a lovely piece of Ruth as archetypal
folktale of one woman on a personal journey
“A Reading of Ruth” by Evelyn Strouse and Bezalel
Porten, Interesting essay from Commentary-Feb
1979: “The scroll of Ruth pivots, as it were, on four
words and inflections thereof: go, stay, return, redeem.”
We open a new book of Torah, in English,
‘Numbers,’ in Hebrew, B’Midbar,
whose first parasha, is called by this same name,
meaning, ‘in the desert’.
This night is also the 48th day of counting of the
Omer,
where in Torah too we see echoed this theme of
counting,
which inspired layers of comments.
So as we read the first verses and words in Torah,
Numbers Chapter 1: verses 1-4,
Keep in mind the questionsWhat rises for you when you think of a census in
this context?
When you hear-see the phrasing of these words?
First our interpretations, then to what some of the
commentators saw.
And lastly, lesson for our lives at this juncture of
time.
Cheesecake & Chocolate Oneg for Shavuot!
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A humorous treasure-source unknown, found in the depths of my files:
To Moses From His Mother:
Archeology has made incredible discoveries. Artifacts, documents cast light on hitherto unknown eras in biblical and pre-biblical periods.
Imagine, a chance recovery made in the Sinai desert. An ancient manuscript. A letter. Written in a mixture of
Egyptian and Hebrew somewhat like an ancient version of Yiddish:
My dear son,
To begin with, you’re breaking my heart.
That’s nothing new of course. You’ve broken it about twice a week since you were about three hours old.
I tried my best to give you a good start in life, but you always managed to make a disaster out of every
opportunity.
You think it was easy to get you planted in the palace? My heart was in my mouth until your sister came and
told me all was well.
And later, just when I thought you’d be in a nice bureaucratic job as third assistant tax collector in Goshen,
you had to go and get an attack of social consciousness.
You had to get into a fight with some Egyptian just because you saw him hitting a Jew. Was that sensible?
Egyptians have been hitting Jews for four hundred years, and you thought you could change things over night?
And the next day you got into another fight just because one Jew was giving another a hard time.
Son, Jews have been giving one another a hard time even longer than Egyptians and the only thing you get
from interfering is tzoris.
I had hopes after you escaped to Midian. When your father-in-law offered you a nice solid job in the sheep
raising business I was sure you’d settle down. But not you.
I had told you thousands of times: don’t get involved in politics, and don’t argue about religion. Naturally you
had to find a new way to combine them so you do them both.
Well, you got them out of Egypt, but of course they’re still complaining. And they’ll never stop. Everything
that goes wrong they’ll blame on you.
Now rumor has reached me that you have some kind of idiotic notion about going up some mountain and
camping there for forty days. Are you completely meshugenah?
What do you think you are? A mountain goat? Don’t you know how cold and damp it is up there? If you don’t
fall and break your neck you’re sure to come down with double pneumonia. Where do you get these ideas?
Why do you refuse to listen to your mother? There’s absolutely nothing you can do on a cloud-covered
mountain that you can’t do on solid ground in the valley, except yodel. Stay away from that mountain.
Your loving but exhausted Mother.
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Congregation Shaareth Israel
PO Box 93594
Lubbock, TX 79493
(806) 794-7517
www.csitemple.org
Vicki Hollander - Rabbi
Sherman Stein, Nonresident Rabbi Emeritus
Neil Kurtzman, President
Charles Skibell, Vice President
Monty Strauss, Secretary
June Wagner, Treasurer
Lisa Beason, Sisterhood President
Jonathan Meyer, Bulletin Editor
May 2015 Calendar at-a-glance
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
1
Sat
2
1
2
Shabbat services
7:30 pm Lay-led
3
4
5
RS 10:00 am
Rabbi Vicki
10
11
12
RS 10:00 am
17
24
7
Lag B’Omer,
Men’s lunch
11:45 am Wild
Burger
13
18
19
Rosh Chodesh
Sivan
25
26
20
27
8
15
21
Friday May 22nd CSI will mark the coming of Shavuot
16
22
23
Shabbat services
7:30 pm
Rabbi Vicki
CSI Marks Shavuot
28
29
Shabbat services
7:30 pm Lay-led
31
9
Shabbat services
7:30 pm
Rabbi Vicki
Shabbat service
6:15pm,
Shabbat dinner
6:45pm
Lay-Led
June’s bulletin
deadline
Barasch
Unveiling
10:30 am
Save the date:
14
RSVP for
Shabbat Dinner
RS 10:00 am
Parent Meeting
10:30 am
Shavuot
6
Board meeting
7:30 pm
30