1. religion and spirituality
2. judaism

March/April 2010
Adar/Nisan/Iyar 5770
We Must Learn How
To Answer Shabbat’s Call
Dear Friends,
Snowstorms are stunning religious
experiences. They bring to our
doorsteps the power and majesty
of nature. The beauty
is stunning. There is an
enforced deep quiet.
A kind of mystery and
awe pervade our lives.
These storms even bring
a sense of relief that we
are not in charge. What
pleasure to have control
wrested from us! Our “to
do” lists become meaningless. No
errands, appointments, meetings or
conferences.
Nature enforces its own Shabbat
on our lives, and we luxuriate in
it. We would do well to pause and
ask ourselves what prevents us
from doing this each week. We
love it when it is imposed on us,
but lack the discipline to impose it
on ourselves.
Shabbat is an opportunity that
beckons. It is a call that we have
yet to learn how to answer.
I love this winter and its heavy
snows and the control that has been
wrested from me. I have learned
once again that I am simply an individual, just one human being.
Temple Micah—what a group
we are. In the larger world of
American Judaism, we are considered a model congregation. We host
rabbinical students and their teachers who come to observe us, meet
us and learn how we do things.
We are a pilot site for innovative
Jewish undertakings. Machon Micah
receives attention from Jewish
Rabbi Zemel
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4
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The Temple Micah Players kick off the Fifth Annual Purim Musical Extravaganza, an ode to Esther,
Mordechai and the Marx Brothers. Photo by Jodi Enda.
Not Your Father’s Passover:
Rabbi Hoffman Reveals How to Make
A Seder the “Highlight of the Year”
By Shelley Grossman
The Passover seder, when Jews ritually recount the story of the exodus from Egypt,
doesn’t have to be boring. It needn’t be an
assemblage of family and friends awkwardly
reading arcane stories that quote ancient
rabbis with unpronounceable names while
the kids fidget and adults surreptitiously
count the pages until dinner is served. Neither does it need to be a dumbed-down,
child-centric activity during which rubber frogs and plastic locusts represent the
plagues and the search for the afikomen is
the high point of the evening.
On the contrary, the seder “was always
supposed to be a highlight of the year for
adults as well as children,” contends Rabbi
Lawrence A. Hoffman, Temple Micah’s 2010
scholar-in-residence. Which is why, in early
March, he will spend three days at Micah
outlining “ways to make the seder not just
fun but the spiritual experience of a lifetime.”
During the Kabbalat Shabbat service March
5, Rabbi Hoffman will speak on “How to
Have the Seder You Always Wanted.” At a
Havdalah session the following afternoon,
he will trace how the seder changed over
centuries to meet contemporary needs in a
lecture titled, “A Day of Wine and Moses:
The Evolution of the Passover Seder.” He’ll
wind up on Sunday morning, March 7, detailing how other sacred stories have been
altered over time in “Sacred Myths of the
Jewish People: What We Can Believe Today.”
Rabbi Hoffman, a professor of liturgy,
worship and ritual at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New
York, is a familiar face at Temple Micah. He
was Rabbi Zemel’s teacher and mentor and
remains a close friend. In one of his earliest
presentations at Micah, he was the scholarin-residence 23 years ago. Most recently, he
was the guest speaker at Rabbi Lederman’s
installation last fall.
He typically speaks about Jewish spiritual renewal, making synagogue life and
worship relevant for 21st-century Jews—
the topic of his 2008 scholar-in-residence
series and a central mission of his career.
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5
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Adar/nisan/Iyar 5770
“Every man shall sit
under his grapevine or
fig tree with no one to
make him afraid.”—
Micah, Chapter 4, Verse 4
Vine
Vol. 46 No.4
TEMPLE MICAH—
a Reform Jewish
congregation
2829 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
Voice: 202-342-9175
Fax: 202-342-9179
e-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.templemicah.org
Daniel G. Zemel
Rabbi
Esther Lederman
Assistant Rabbi
Teddy Klaus
Music Director
Meryl Weiner
Cantor
Deborah Ayala
Srabstein
Education Director
Susie Blumenthal
Administrator
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Larry Cooley
President
Sharon Davis
Vice President
David Adler
Treasurer
Ginger From
Secretary
Joel Aronson
Debbie Billet-Roumell
Victoria Greenfield
Skip Halpern
Ira Hillman
Judy Hurvitz
Kate Kiggins
Marc Levy
Mary Beth Schiffman
Ruth Wattenberg
Ed Wendel
VINE STAFF
Jodi Enda
Editor
Phone: 202-387-4282
Judy Hurvitz
Managing Editor
Don Rothberg
Contributing Editor
Dorian Friedman
Louise Zemel
Copy Editors
president’s update
Survival … and Then Some
By Larry Cooley
“Survival” has always seemed
to me like the leit motif of the
Jewish calendar. Purim is one of
those holidays celebrating
the survival of the Jewish people. Passover, of
course, is another.
But for many of us—
and especially for our children—survival isn’t good
enough. People come
to Micah looking for more of a
reason to be Jewish.
For some it’s community; for
some spirituality; for some a code
of behavior or a way of life. It’s
our job to have on-ramps for
people coming from each of these
directions and, on our best days, I
think we do a pretty good job.
Several weeks ago, we were
visited by the Tisch Fellows—a
group of rabbis-in-training from
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion—led by Rabbi
Larry Hoffman. We were one stop
on their tour of synagogues, and
they wanted to talk about what
we thought defined Micah as a
congregation and as a community.
Four members of the Micah
community were there—Josh
Seidman, Heather Moran, Rich
Harwood and me. The young
rabbis began by asking each of
us to tell the story of how we
found our way to Temple Micah.
It quickly became clear that the
four of us made it to Micah—and
to our respective approaches to
“Jewishness”—by four very different routes. Some were brought up
with extensive Jewish education,
some with very little. We each
came looking for very different
things and somehow each of us
wound up treasuring our asso-
ciation with Temple Micah and
the community that surrounds it.
Interestingly, each of us is married
to someone who was not born
Jewish and who now plays a central role in our community.
None of the stories we told
had much to do with the survival
of the Jewish people. They were
more selfish and more contemporary. I suspect if all of you had
been there, the number of stories
would have almost equaled the
head count. But I doubt that survival would have been a dominant theme.
Into this bubbling set of issues
and challenges enter the Next
D’Or Project of Synagogue 3000.
As many of you know, Temple
Micah applied for and won a
grant from “S3K” to undertake
imaginative outreach to unaffiliated Jews in their 20s and 30s
in the Washington area. This is
not a membership drive. Rather,
it is a sincere effort to find new
on-ramps that are meaningful to
people of this demographic. I am
confident that while young people
are the intended target group,
we will all be beneficiaries of the
quest.
Increasing our membership is
also a goal. We are hoping to add
another 50 family units to the congregation in the coming months.
This requires thought about who
we are and what we have to
offer. Innovations in prayer and
study are under review. So is the
feasibility of starting a pre-school
and modifying our dues structure.
And we know we need better
ways of publicizing Temple Micah
in the region.
If you have ideas, please contact me (president@templemicah.
org), other members of the board
or the rabbis and share your
thoughts. If you are willing to
help, all the better.
Happy holidays.
MarCh/April 2010
RABBI Lederman’S COLUMN
Taking Responsibility in Our Backyard:
Let’s Help at Home Like We Did in Haiti
By Rabbi Esther Lederman
“Few are guilty, but all are ­responsible.”
—Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
In his book, The Prophets, the late Rabbi
Heschel, one of the greatest theologians of
the 20th century, contended that although
we are not all responsible for the sins of
the world, each of us has a responsibility to rectify
its injustices. I find his teaching both inspirational and
burdensome.
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Heschel’s
maxim these past few weeks. The starkest reminder
of his teaching has been the earthquake in Haiti. Due
to the reach of our global technology, we’ve been
able to witness the tremendous suffering and devastation experienced by Haiti’s citizens. At last count,
250,000 people died, thousands are wounded and in
need of medical attention and countless children are
without parents or any kind of support system.
What made the impact of this natural disaster
much more tragic than it might have been is the desperate poverty in which millions of Haitians already
lived. If an equally strong earthquake were to hit
Washington, there certainly would be devastation
and death, but not nearly on the same scale as in
Haiti. We are a much wealthier nation with a stronger infrastructure and more safety nets. By comparison, in October 1989, the Bay Area was struck by
an earthquake of similar magnitude, and 63 people
were killed. Our 63 to their 250,000.
We are not guilty of bringing devastation upon
Haiti; but we certainly are responsible.
In response, many of us donated money to help the
relief efforts. Whether it was through the American
Jewish World Service, the Red Cross or other organizations, we gave, and then we gave some more. For
this, I am proud. I am proud that
American Jews are represented on the international
front by groups like the American Jewish World Service,
which works with local grassroots groups on international development. I am proud that Israel was one of
the first countries on the ground in Haiti with a rescue
and medical team. A baby boy delivered by a member
of the Israeli team will now be known as Israel.
But mixed with my pride is a nagging concern. Yes,
we felt a tremendous call to help the people of Haiti
in their time of need. And yet every day in this city, a
place that is not just our home but our nation’s capital, children and families suffer from poverty, joblessness and hunger. Many of them live in Anacostia, just
across the river of the same name. The reason that
D.C. public schools wait until the last moment to close
in the face of a snow emergency? Because the majority of the students rely on the schools for breakfast
and lunch. If school doesn’t open for the day, those
children go hungry.
So I begin to ask myself: If I feel responsible to do
something for Haiti, what is my responsibility to the
children of D.C.? What is OUR responsibility to the
children of D.C.? Or for the communities we live in?
Why does it sometimes seem so much easier to help
in the face of tragedies in Haiti and Darfur and not in
the face of tragedies in our own backyard?
If we are to take Heschel’s teaching seriously, by
trying to live it, then we must ask deeper questions
about to whom we are responsible and what that
responsibility entails. What is our responsibility as a
temple to the city of Washington, D.C.? What does
that responsibility look like? What is the purpose to
our being a house of worship in the city and not in
the suburbs, even though many of us live outside the
boundaries of the District?
I ask these questions for two reasons. One is
because I am curious if these are your questions as
well. But also because I know I can’t answer them
alone. Let me know what you think. Write me at
[email protected], speak to me at an
oneg, engage me in a conversation. Let’s figure out
how we can take responsibility at home, as well as
around the globe.
Creative Challah
Micah members display temple pride during one of many
Shabbat Shalom Around Town dinners. Exhibiting the challah
are (from left) Sophie Rose Futrovsky, Isaac RosenblumSellers, Jim Roumell (the baker), Jordan Roumell and Hazel
Rosenblum-Sellers. Photo by Marc Rosenblum.
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Adar/nisan/Iyar 5770
A Temple Micah Member Returns to the Washington Area, This Time As a Rabbi
By Jeffrey P. Cohn
Michael Holzman is returning to the Washington area. The former Temple Micah
member will take over as the rabbi of the
Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation—
a Reform synagogue in Reston—on July 6.
Holzman, 36, has been the associate rabbi at
Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia since 2004.
Rabbi Holzman and his wife, Nicole
Saffell Holzman, were members of Micah
from 1996 to 1998, when the future rabbi
taught the confirmation class and seventh
grade.
At the time, Holzman had just graduated
from Washington University in St. Louis
and taken a job as a paralegal at the Justice Department. Like many young college
graduates, he was unsure where he was going
professionally. A science major in college,
Holzman had been encouraged by his Justice
Department colleagues to go to law school.
But he had become disillusioned with what
he saw as the limits of scientific knowledge
and the legal profession to explain adequately the depth of the human experience.
Instead, he began to consider enrolling at
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in New York. He had always felt a
strong spiritual connection with people and
the world. Holzman consulted with a number of area rabbis, including Rabbi Zemel.
Rabbi Zemel “doesn’t whitewash things,”
Rabbi Holzman recalled. “He gave me a very
realistic picture of what to expect in rabbinical school and afterward. I had a phenomenal experience with mostly fantastic
professors and outstanding classmates.”
While in rabbinical school from 1998 to
2003, Rabbi Holzman said, there was one
experience that profoundly shaped his spiritual development: Sept. 11, 2001. “I was just
15 blocks away on 9/11,” he said. “I saw the
burning buildings collapsing and people running up Broadway. It was just before Rosh
Hashanah, so we started singing psalms.”
Yet, something about that response
didn’t feel right to the rabbinical student.
“I couldn’t talk to God that way,” he said.
“My views of God were still unconsciously
somewhat childlike. Without being aware
of it, I saw God as a loving being that protects people. Where was God on 9/11? Why
didn’t he protect people then?”
As he was watching the horrific scene of
people trying to escape the collapsing buildings, Rabbi Holzman said, he saw a man
publishing companies curious about our
Skype Hebrew program as well as from Jewish educators around the country who want to learn about our
education task force and creative approach to Jewish
learning. We are invited to speak at conferences and
will be featured in an upcoming book on American
synagogue life. Even Newsweek has honored us as
one of America’s 25 “most vibrant” congregations.
All these accolades are great, as well as embarrassing. We alone know who we really are—including
our shortcomings and our weaknesses. We strive for a
much greater sense of community. How do we achieve
that? We long for greater involvement from the entire
congregation. How do we inspire that? We yearn for
a greater sense of intimacy, awareness and partnership. I think a great deal about how we might really
become a deep and vibrant Jewish faith community,
one in which we speak with comfort and ease about
God’s presence in our midst and live lives that are
covenanted toward a larger purpose that is with us,
palpably, every single day. We are nowhere near the
place I long for us to be.
Our community has another challenge that we do
Rabbi Zemel
F R O M PA G E 1
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stagger up the street. A woman asked the
man if he was hurt. The man could not hear
her because his ears were full of ash. The
woman dashed into a nearby store, bought
some Q-tips and cleaned out the man’s ears.
“God was not absent,” Rabbi Holzman
said he realized. “God was in that woman
who stopped to help someone in need. Too
many people have pushed God out of their
lives. That woman let God into hers. That
helped me understand God.”
At the same time, Temple Micah taught
him how to practice his religion as an adult.
“I learned from Micah that God matters,
not just the synagogue,” Rabbi Holzman
said. “We use Jewish tradition to help people
connect with the values that are right and
true and loving in their lives. Nothing is
more important than that. That’s how we
as Jews and as rabbis do God’s work. God
is present in what we do.”
Rabbi Zemel, who officiated at the naming ceremony for the Holzmans’ baby, described his former congregant as “a very
bright, terrific fellow who is very creative
in how he approaches being a rabbi. “It will
be great to have him back in this area. He
M
will do wonderful things.” n
not discuss easily. We have a budget deficit. We sorely
need both a fairly modest increase in membership—perhaps 40 families—and greater generosity from much
of our current membership. Our membership committee has been working very hard to attract new families.
Our annual fund-raising auction in April, the only event
that raises money for the congregation, is a wonderful
opportunity to support Micah and socialize with other
members. Let us resolve to beat our deficit this year.
The very nature of our community does not allow
us to talk about money without considerable difficulty.
We are modest. We are philosophically in a kind of
permanent rebellion against the perceived and frequently very real lack of egalitarianism in American
Jewish institutions, where money often dictates influence. We have sought a different path, which has
helped to create the welcoming community we have.
But by being so easygoing, we have not advocated
sufficiently for our own very real financial needs.
Simply put, to have a successful, strong future, we
need more money. We need to find ways to talk about
this more comfortably—and then to act.
Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel
MarCh/April 2010
Hoffman
F R O M PA G E 1
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Many of his dealings with Temple Micah have involved Synagogue 2000 (now Synagogue
3000), the trans-denominational network he co-founded
in the 1990s to serve as a catalyst for synagogues to remake
themselves into up-to-date,
vibrant and dynamic sacred
communities.
“He takes worship more seriously than most scholars,” Rabbi
Zemel said. “His real mission is
one of integration, translating
faith and religion into the contemporary cultural medium.”
Along with Jewish worship
and ritual in general, Rabbi
Hoffman said he has maintained a special fondness for
the Passover Haggadah. “It was
the first course I ever taught,”
in 1971, when, as a graduate
student at HUC-JIR, he had to
take over a class on the subject
from his professor. “I decided
on it as a specialty there and
then, and I’ve studied it ever
since,” he said.
He’s also written extensively
about it, most recently in the
two-volume My People’s Haggadah, co-edited with David
Arnow and published in 2008.
“It has ever ything you
ever wanted to know about
the seder and the Haggadah,”
Rabbi Hoffman quipped. “I
love engaging people in the
story behind the seder. It has
fascinating customs, some old,
some recent,” he said. Studying
its history “is a key to Jewish
identity and thought.”
So encouraging families to
update and enliven their seders
is another aspect of his mission
to make Jewish ritual relevant to
today’s Jews. That doesn’t mean
simply paging through a modern Haggadah.
“Everyone leading a seder
has to take charge, to select
judicially the readings from
the Haggadah,” he said. Most
important, he continued, the
“Our time has
changed the
nature of the
seder. And we
have to bring all
of Jewish history
to bear on this
single moment.”
—Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
leader must “engage all of the
eyes around the table—and you
don’t need a Ph.D. to do that.”
Rabbi Hoffman received his
Ph.D. from HUC-JIR in 1973
(he had been ordained as a
rabbi in 1969) and went directly
onto the faculty. He has taught
there ever since.
The story of the exodus
from Egypt is one of the oldest and most pivotal elements
in Judaism’s sacred story, Rabbi
Hoffman said. A celebration to
recount the story also is ancient.
The Torah commands the Israelites to retell the story through
the generations. Later books of
the Bible mention that Kings
Hezekiah and Josiah observed
the Passover.
During the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the
focus was on the sacrifice of the
paschal lamb. People would eat
the remains of the sacrifice and
sit around informally discussing
the exodus. At that time, the retelling simply praised God for
rescuing the Jews from Egypt
and bringing them through the
wilderness to the land of Israel.
No mention of giving them the
Torah.
After the Second Temple was
destroyed in 70 C.E., the practice of sacrifice ended and so
the retelling of the story had to
change. In the wider community, the Greek symposium—
an evening devoted to eating
and scholarly discussion—
came into vogue. The rabbis
adapted the symposium to
the Passover celebration. They
moved the celebration into
the home and transformed it
into a family-based ritual meal.
Because Judaism had evolved
from a temple-centered cult
to a Torah-based religion, the
rabbis inserted the stop at Sinai and the giving of the Torah
into the Passover story. This
was probably the origin of the
popular song, “Dayenu,” which
enumerates all of the miracles
God performed, including the
giving of the Torah.
Still, for centuries, the rabbis did not agree on one set
of words or prayers to say at
the seder. It wasn’t until the
9th century C.E. that Rabbi
Amran of Babylonia included
a preferred series of readings
in the first official comprehensive prayer book. Those readings still make up the core of
the Haggadah, although new
prayers were added to meet
community needs.
In the 11th century, for example, persecution of the Jews
accompanied the Crusades, and
the Jewish community yearned
for Messianic deliverance. So,
Elijah, the prophet who is to
herald the Messiah, became a
central feature of seders, which
also ended with the hope, “Next
year in Jerusalem.”
By the 19th century, Western
European Jews had emerged
from the ghetto and into society
at large. Reform rabbis responded by advocating major changes
in the seder. No longer did Jews
see themselves as exiles, but as a
“holy people” obligated by God
to be a “light unto the nations.”
This was reflected in the first
American Reform Haggadah,
which incorporated mention
of the “prophets of truth.”
Now the time has come to
make more alterations, Rabbi
Hoffman said.
“Our time has changed the
nature of the seder,” he said.
“And we have to bring all of
Jewish history to bear on this
M
single moment.” n
Mazel Tov
Mazel tov to Ira Hillman and Jeremy Barber on the arrival
of their son, Elijah Lee Hillman Barber.
Condolences
Temple Micah mourns the loss of member Charnya Fisher.
Temple Micah extends condolences to Marion Levine on
the passing of her father, Fred Goldman; to Debra Berke
on the passing of her father, Daniel Berke; to Paulette Shulman on the passing of her father, Olimpio De Leon Pasco; to
Dorothy Kirby on the passing of her brother, Robert Kabat;
to Sande Schifferes and her daughter Juliana, on the passing
of Erich Waldemar Larisch, Juliana’s father.
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Adar/nisan/Iyar 5770
The Whole Megillah
The jokes and laughter were nonstop during Temple Micah’s annual
Purimspiel, a boisterous affair that this year looked to the Marx
Brothers to interpret the age-old story of Esther, Mordechai, King
Achashverosh and, of course, Haman. Cigars, mustaches and double
entendres were thick during the one and only showing of “A Night at
the Palace” or “Some Duck Soup for the Soul.” Photos by Jodi Enda.
MarCh/April 2010
Micah members celebrated with
hamentaschen, costumes and
hamentaschen costumes. And the
real Megillah was read—and
honked—by Micah’s own Groucho,
Harpo and Chico.
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Adar/nisan/Iyar 5770
B’nai Mitzvah
Elizabeth Zetlin 
January 9, 2010—23 Tevet
PARENTS: Leda Gottlieb and Ed Zetlin
TORAH PORTION: Shemot
MITZVAH PROJECT: Baking and selling cookies
to raise money for a Chinese orphanage.
Walter Huron 
March 27, 2010—12 Nisan
Amy Wind and Doug Huron
TORAH PORTION: Tzav
MITZVAH PROJECT: Organizing family
and friends to plant trees in a low-income
housing complex in Columbia Heights
and taking responsibility for watering the trees for the next two years.
PARENTS:
 Harrison Davis
January 16, 2010—1 Shevat
PARENTS: Stacy Bernard Davis and Richard Davis
TORAH PORTION: Va-eira
MITZVAH PROJECT: Helping out in
the Temple Micah library.
 Alia Schechter
April 10, 2010—26 Nisan
PARENTS: Rosa Puech and Peter Schechter
TORAH PORTION: Shmini
MITZVAH PROJECT: Assisting handicapped
children to achieve greater self-confidence and
happiness through therapeutic riding classes.
Julia Michal Harris 
February 27, 2010—13 Adar
PARENTS: Monika Biller Harris
and Kenneth J. Harris
TORAH PORTION: T’tzaveh
MITZVAH PROJECT: Assisting in the
Temple Micah library, delivering donations of clothing and food to the
Haitian Embassy, assisting and tutoring children at homeless shelters.
Alexander Cohen 
April 17, 2010—3 Iyar
Wendy and Jeffrey Cohen
TORAH PORTION: M’tzora and Tazria
MITZVAH PROJECT: Volunteering at
Temple Micah Tot Shabbat services.
PARENTS:
 Elias
Daniel Benda
April 24, 2010-- 10 Iyar
PARENT: Susan Benda TORAH PORTION: Acharei-Mot
MITZVAH PROJECT: Lobbying his middleschool principal to allow him to set up a Gay
Straight Alliance in response to derogatory
comments said about and to gay students.
 Gabrielle Alana Busch
March 6, 2010--20 Adar
PARENTS: Cheryl and Jeffrey Busch
TORAH PORTION: Ki Tisa
MITZVAH PROJECT: Assisted the drama department in a scholarship performance dedicated to
the memory of a student who passed away. Michael Yohei Grob 
March 13, 2010—27 Adar
PARENTS: Hiromi Maruyama
and Douglas Grob
TORAH PORTION: Vayakhel
MITZVAH PROJECT: Raise awareness about
Haitian amputees and helping collect used
wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and artificial
limbs to benefit earthquake survivors.
For his mitzvah project,
Gideon Blum, right,
collected 50 bicycles
for Bikes for the
World, a nonprofit that
sends used bicycles to
developing countries.
He is pictured here with
the organization’s,
director, Keith Oberg.
Photo by Kate Kiggins.
ON THE VINE
March/April 2010
Adar/Nisan/Iyar 5770
Kabbalat Shabbat services are at 6:30 p.m. each Friday, preceded by an oneg at 6 p.m. Shabbat morning services are at
10:15 a.m. each Saturday, followed by an oneg. Torah study is at 9 a.m. Saturdays. See www.templemicah.org for updates.
Month/day Hebrew Date Day of week Time
March 1
15 Adar Monday
10:30 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
March 2
16 Adar Tuesday
12:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7p.m.
7 p.m.
March 4
18 Adar Thursday
7 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
March 5
19 Adar Friday
10 a.m.
6:30 p.m.
March 6
20 Adar Saturday
10:15 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
4 p.m.
March 7
21 Adar Sunday
10 a.m.
4 p.m.
March 8
22 Adar Monday
10:30 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
March 9
23 Adar Tuesday
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
March 10
24 Adar Wednesday
March 12
26 Adar Friday
10 a.m.
6 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
March 13
27 Adar Saturday
10:15 a.m.
March 16
1 Nisan
Tuesday
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
March 18
3 Nisan
Thursday
7:30 p.m.
March 19
4 Nisan
Friday
10 a.m.
6:30 p.m.
March 20
5 Nisan
Saturday
12:30 p.m.
March 21
6 Nisan
Sunday
10 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
March 23
8 Nisan
Tuesday
6:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
March 26
11 Nisan
Friday
10 a.m.
March 27
12 Nisan
Saturday
10:15 a.m.
5 p.m.
March 29
14 Nisan
Monday
Event
Monday Morning Group
Downtown Discussion Group
Book Club
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
Conversational Hebrew with Tal
Board of Directors Meeting
Conversion Class
Adult Choir Rehearsal
K’tonton
Kabbalat Shabbat—Scholar-in-Residence
Shabbat Morning Service—
Gabby Busch becomes Bat Mitzvah
Hebrew Poetry
Havdalah—Scholar-in-Residence
Scholar-in-Residence
Adult Choir Festival—Temple Beth Ami, Rockville
Monday Morning Group
Downtown Discussion Group
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
Micah Mission V departs for Israel
K’tonton
Tot Shabbat
Kabbalat Shabbat
Shabbat Morning Service—
Michael Grob becomes Bar Mitzvah
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
Adult Choir Rehearsal
K’tonton
Kabbalat Shabbat—Guest Speaker:
Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe
Hebrew Poetry
New Members Group
Boys Group – Grades 6/7
Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing—Grade 8
Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing—Grades 6/7
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
K’tonton
Shabbat Morning Service—
Walter Huron becomes Bar Mitzvah
Machon Micah: All Community Pesach
Pesach begins, first Seder
9
10
ON THE VINE
April 1
17 Nisan
Thursday
7:30 p.m.
April 2
18 Nisan
Friday
10 a.m.
6:30 p.m.
April 3
19 Nisan
Saturday
12:15 p.m.
6 p.m.
April 4
20 Nisan
Sunday
April 5
21 Nisan
Monday
10:15 a.m.
April 6
22 Nisan
Tuesday
12:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
April 8
24 Nisan
Thursday
7 p.m.
April 9
25 Nisan
Friday
10 a.m.
6 p.m.
April 10
26 Nisan
Saturday
10:15 a.m.
5 p.m.
April 11
27 Nisan
Sunday
April 12
28 Nisan
Monday
10:30 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
April 13
29 Nisan
Tuesday
5 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
April 15
1 Iyar
Thursday
7:30 p.m.
April 16
2 Iyar
Friday
10 a.m.
6:30 p.m.
April 17
3 Iyar
Saturday
10:15 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
6 p.m.
April 18
4 Iyar
Sunday
April 20
6 Iyar
Tuesday
5:30 p.m.
April 23
9 Iyar
Friday
10 a.m.
6:30 p.m.
April 24
10 Iyar
Saturday
10:15 a.m.
April 25
11 Iyar
Sunday
8:30 a.m.
9:30 a.m.
10 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
6 p.m.
April 26
12 Iyar
Monday
10:30 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
April 27
13 Iyar
Tuesday
5 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
April 30
16 Iyar
Friday
10 a.m.
March/April 2010
Adar/Nisan/Iyar 5770
Adult Choir Rehearsal
K’tonton
Kabbalat Shabbat—Youth Choir sings
Hebrew Poetry
Temple Micah Community Seder
sponsored by Kol Isha
No Machon Micah
Passover Service—Yiskor read
Book Club
No Machon Micah
Board of Directors Meeting
Conversion Class
K’tonton
Tot Shabbat
Shabbat Morning Service—
Alia Schechter becomes Bat Mitzvah
Machon Micah: All Community Yom Ha’Shoah
No Machon Micah
Monday Morning Group
Downtown Discussion Group
Machon Micah
Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing—Grades 6/7
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
Adult Choir Rehearsal
K’tonton
Kabbalat Shabbat—Pick-up Band
Shabbat Morning Service—
Alexander Cohen becomes Bar Mitzvah
Hebrew Poetry
Annual Spring Auction
No Machon Micah
Machon Micah: All Community Yom Ha’atzmaut
No Adult B’nai Torah
No Adult Hebrew
K’tonton
MiTY Kabbalat Shabbat
Shabbat Morning Service—
Elias Benda becomes Bar Mitzvah
Sukkot in Spring
Temple Micah Blood Drive
Machon Micah
New Members Group
Boys Group—Grades 6/7
Kol Isha
Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing—Grade 8
Monday Morning Group
Downtown Discussion Group
Machon Micah
Adult B’nai Torah
Adult Hebrew
K’tonton
MarCh/April 2010
Tzedakah
BUILDING FUND
In memory of
Jack Diamond, husband
of Frances Diamond,
by Frances Diamond
GENERAL FUND
Gary Kaushansky
Alan Guttman
In honor of
Rebecca Klein becoming Bat Mitzvah, by
Jeffrey and Julie Melzak
In memory of
Samuel Laver, father of
Tina Coplan, by Tina
and Michael Coplan
Hortense and Edward
Platoff, by Sheila Platoff
Miriam Goldeen, Alfred
J. Goldeen, by David
and Livia Bardin
HINEINI FUND
(to assist congregants in need)
In memory of
Lee and Ted Cron, by
Elizabeth Koozmin
Max and Dora Bender,
parents of Carole
Hirschmann, by John
and Carole Hirschmann
ISRAEL FUND
In honor of
the birth of our
grandson, Nathan
Bryce Cooper, by Bev
and Harlan Sherwat
LANDSCAPE FUND
In memory of
Minnie Bloom Odoroff,
by Elizabeth Odoroff
LIBRARY FUND
In memory of
Lillian Pose, by Marilyn
and William Paul
Charlotte W. Cohen,
by Judith W. and
Sanford Miller
Julian Meer, father of
Janice, by Janice Meer
and Michael Bodo
MICAH HOUSE
Iris and Phil Barnett
Adam Klinger
Nancy Lang
Robert Orwin
Marcus Rosenbaum
and Lyn Ingersoll
Herb and Carol
Horowitz
Fatema Salam and
Michael Berger
Robert and Lynn
Coffman
Jack and Judith Hadley
Richard Fitz and Kathy
Spiegel
Carl and Pamela
Bernstein
Debbie and Jim Roumell
Sonia White
Marisha and John
Sherry
Melinda Soffer
Clark Silcox
Don and Lynn Rothberg
Kyna Rubin
Gail Povar and Larry
Bachorik
Ted Bornstein and
Lesley Weiss
Bobbie and Ed Wendel
Tina Coplan
Mary Beth Schiffman
and David Tochen
Carole and John
Hirschmann
Michal Avni
Mary Mahle
Sarah Puro and
Amanda Helin
Sonia S. Sloan
Marilyn W. Klein
Mary Hollis
David Lowenstein and
Kathlene Collins
Stephen Schulman and
Miriam Markowitz
Lorri Manasse and
Russell Misheloff
Jim Miller and Judy
Ludwin Miller
Ellen and Jeff Passel
Myra and Mark Kovey
Kevin and Susan
Weidenbaum
Liz Koozmin
Robert Saginaw
Jessica Kaplan
Ann Sablosky and
Stephen Rockower
Bayla White
Harry and Jessica Silver
Al and Ginger From
Else and Dan
Moskowitz
Norman and Susan
Blumenfeld
Joshua and Nan
Kaufman
Jonah Gitlitz
Helen Epps
Susan and Bill
Nussbaum
Sarah and Jay Grusin
Stephen Kurzman and
Patricia A. Goldman
Robert and Susan
Morgenstein
Clem Rastatter
Leslie Riggs
Helen Hooper and
Philip Tabas
Neal Mann and
Deborah Edge
Debra Vekstein
Ilan Scharfstein
Jackie and Rich
Harwood
Charles Jacobson
Susan Blumenthal
Judy Bonderman
Andrea Ferster
Samuel and Barbara
Dyer
Michael Leibman
John and Leslie
Oberdorfer
Richard and Susan
Lahne
Dr. Richard M. Katz
and Martha Lessman
Katz
Adrienne and David
Umansky
Brian and Dorothy
Landsberg
Daniel and Beverly Yett
Lisa and Tyler Anbinder
Lance and Mary Laver
Genie Grohman
Ed Lazere and Suzanne
Griffith
The Gardner/Stern
Family
Samuel Halpern
Ann Nachbar and
David Frenkel
Lora Ferguson
Marcia Bordman
Carol Nachman and
Susan Rothrock
Fred and Eva Jacob
Elise Bean
Morton J. Schussman
Nancy Boswell
Liz Lerman
Marilyn and William
Paul
Dorothy P. Kirby
Lynn Christensen and
Michael O’Brien
Barbara and Scott
Anenberg
William Pizer
Wendy Jennis and
Doug Mishkin
Betsy Broder and David
Wentworth
Aaron Seidman and
Ruth Kertzer Seidman
Harlan Messinger
Marjorie Zapruder
Mervine and Judith
Rosen
Martin Zoltick
Lori and Rob Maggin
Robert and Carolyn
Falb
Beth Grossman and
Eric Wolf
Joshua Seidman and
Jocelyn Guyer
Kimberly Curtis and
Matthew Katzive
Sidney and Elka Booth
In honor of
Isaac Metz becoming Bar Mitzvah, by
Neil Spencer Welles
the 60th birthday of
Harold Closter, by
Vivian and Gerald
Liebenau
Louise Wheatley’s birthday, by Holly Hexter
and Jason Isaacson
the birthday of Louise
Wides, by Susan
Steinberg
Yael Traum and
Lee Futrovsky for
Thanksgiving, by
Margaret Rifkind
Rabbi Danny Zemel,
by Ron and Susan
Wolfson
the 60th Anniversary
of Judy and Sid Trager,
by Meryl and George
Weiner
Jessica Silver, by
Carolyn Margolis
Daniel’s birthday, by
Tamar Hendel-Fishman
Martha Ransohoff
Adler’s birthday, by
David Adler
Rabbi Dan Zemel, by
Marc and Gwen Pearl
Sharon Salus’s birthday
and Dorothy Kirby’s
birthday, by Roberta
and Morton Goren
Teddy Klaus, by Sue
Baum
the marriage of
Catherine and Daniel
Granof, by Helene and
Gene Granoff
Minette Knopman,
still smiling at 89, by
Debra Knopman
the birth on June
15th of Sadie Parker
Hughes, by Arnold and
Susan Lutzker
the Micah House
Board, by Danny and
Louise Zemel
Dan and Louise Zemel,
by Amy Schwartzman
and Kevin Moss
Burton August, by
Diane August
Lillian Marion, by Paul
Shapiro
Rachel Heaps and
Shira Zemel for their
dedicated service to
Temple Micah, by
Michelle Sender
Kathy and Ivan Sindell,
by James Bodner and
Victoria Greenfield
In memory of
Blanche Goldstein, by
Michael Goldstein and
Susan Bales
Doris Luterman
Surick, by Ronna
and Stan Foster
Gertrude K. Russi, by
Rosemarie Russi Howe
MUSIC FUND
In honor of
Meryl Weiner,
by Ken Pack
the choir, by Ed Zetlin
and Leda Gottlieb
our son Daniel’s marriage to Catherine,
by Helene and
Gene Granof
Gideon Blum becoming
Bar Mitzvah, by Kate
Kiggins and Jared Blum
Greg Lipscomb, by
Sean and Miriam
Bamberger Grogan
In memory of
Esther Gould and
Eva Blatt, by Roberta
and Joel Aronson
Sarah Iker, Charles
Iker and Samuel
Iker, by Jean Iker
Corinne S. Asher, by
David and Lucy Asher
John C. Ward, father
of David Ward, by
Alice Greenwald
RABBI’S DISCRETIONARY FUND
Nancy and
Donald Elisburg
Robert Ourisman
Rabbi Marc Raphael
Melanie Franco and
Lawrence Nussdorf
Gloria Broide, wife of
Mace Brodie, by Mace
Broide, anonymous
Bertha Levenson,
by Brenda and
Richard Levenson
Elsie Saks, mother of
Lisa Saks, by Elka and
Sid Booth, anonymous
Jack Carpien, father
of Alan Carpien,
by Elka and Sid
Booth, anonymous
our daughter-in-law,
Rebecca, by Milton
and Marlyn Socolar
`Ruth R. Booth, by
Sid and Elka Booth
James Blumberg,
brother of Carol Sweig,
by Rhoda Hyde
Rose Herschkowitz,
by Brenda and
Richard Levenson
Olimpio De Leon
Pasco, father of
Paulette Shulman,
by anonymous
Fred Goldman, father
of Marion Levine,
by anonymous
Mildred Kiggins,
by Kate Kiggins
and Jared Blum
Robert Kabat, borther
of Dorothy Kirby,
by Sid and Elka
Booth, Judy Hurvitz
Pamela and
Thomas Green
Daniel Berke, father of
Debra Berke, by Judy
Hurvitz, anonymous
Mark Katz and
Cynthia Hogan
RELIGIOUS OBJECTS FUND
In honor of
In honor of
Gideon Blum becoming
Bar Mitzvah, by Kate
Kiggins and Jared Blum
Elizabeth Zetlin becoming Bat Mitzvah, by
Mark Gruenberg
Rabbi Danny Zemel,
by Stuart and Cinda
Zemel, Charles
S. Mansueto,
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL FUND
Randy and
Harriet Tritell
In honor of
Machon Micah by
Rabbi Barbara Aiello
In memory of
the bris of Noah Van
Goor, by Stuart and
Britt Rubenstein
David Booth, by
Norman and Susan
Blumenfeld
Claire Rubin’s
special birthday, by
Brenda and Richard
Levenson, anonymous
Reubin Nathan From,
by Al and Ginger From
In memory of
In memory of
Pearl Lazar, mother
of Learita Scott; Betsy
Kanarek and Russell
Scott, by Bob Friedman
and Learita Scott
Simon Rockower,
grandfather of
Stephen Rockower,
by Ann Sablosky and
Stephen Rockower
SOCIAL ACTION FUND
11
12
Adar/Nisan/Iyar 5770
Mar/April 2010
S ave the D ate
Annual Spring Auction
April 17 • 6 p.m. • $18
Micah’s Yearly Blood Drive Planned for April 25
Every minute of every day, someone needs blood. According to the
American Red Cross, just three out of every 100 people in America
currently donate blood, “the gift of life.”
You can join them on Sunday, April 25, when Temple Micah
will hold its annual blood drive from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.. If
you are at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and are in
good health, you are likely an eligible donor.
Once again this year, Inova Blood Donor Services is sponsoring
the drive. Appointments will be scheduled at 15-minute intervals;
the process typically takes about 45 minutes. Donors should bring
photo identification and arrive at least five minutes before appointments to complete the required paperwork. Registration will take
place in the galleria.
You can sign up to donate at templemicah.org or by sending
an e-mail to co-chairs Rita Carleton ([email protected]) or
Wendy Erlanger ([email protected]).
Additional volunteers are needed to recruit and schedule proM
spective donors before the drive and to man the registration desk. n
Temple members
enjoyed a storytelling juggler and Israeli
dancing during a Tu
B’shvat celebration.
Photos by Jodi Enda.