May 2, 2017 - For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good. A calendar reminder: Israel .... emai
SEPTEMBER 2011 MAY 2017 AV / ELUL 44 West 66th IYYAR Street / New York, NY 10023 / SIVAN 5777 ph 212-787-5347 / fax 212-595-3542 103 West End Ave / New York, NY 10023 www.habonim.net ph 212-787-5347 / fax 212-595-3542
www.habonim.net
BUILDING A JEWISH COMMUNITY TOGETHER CALENDAR
FAMILY KABBALAT Anticipating Yom Yerushalayim Win-Win: Be Better, BeSHABBAT HappierSERVICE Friday, May 5, 6:30 pm 5777 by Rabbi Joshua Katzan UPCOMING EVENTS SHABBAT SERVICES Marking the 50th year of the TORAH FOR TOTS Once again, they’re coming. Rosh Reunification of Jerusalem Erev Sukkoth Every Saturday 11:00 am Hashanah/Yom Kippur, the “High Holidays” 24,pm2017 - 28 Iyyar 5727) Wednesday, October(May 12, 6.30 CONGREGATION KATAN & tend to be a loaded experience. For some, it Services followed by by Adult DinnerBarry in the Sukkah Rabbi Kenter JUNIOR CONGREGATION is a 10:45 joyous am time to celebrate with family and Saturday, May 13,
community. For others it is a conflicted time Habonim Goes to Philadelphia! Psalm 122 SUNDAY MORNING as thisMINYAN is when we once again ask ourselves National Museum American Jewish History A Song of Ascents; of of David. May 7 & 21, 9:30 am the “big questions” of life. The High Holidays Sunday, 18 unto me: 'Let us go unto the house of the I rejoicedSeptember when they said MONDAY EVENING MINYAN are a period where we do well to focus on the Still Lord.'time to register with Adina Rifkin May 1, 8 & 15, 7:15 pmof what it means to become a better Tel: 212-787 5347 ext 100 question Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem; MUSINGS WITHperson. THE RABBI
[email protected] Jerusalem, built as a city that is compact together; Ongoing,Tuesdays, May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 10:00 am The place toinwhich the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, to give The ten days of Repentance between Rosh Kiddush the Park BEIT MIDRASH after Kiddush Lunch on Shabbat testimony o Israel by giving to the name of the Lord. Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Yamim Saturday, September 24, thanks following services April 29 – Dr. Ellie Carmody, Infectious Disease For there were set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of is the Nora’im, traditionalTsa’arat period where we act on our self-assessments and Specialist: David. Congregation Habonim Fall Gala try to repairMay the damage we’ve caused to other people. ofWe confess and 6 – Rebecca Neuwirth, Director Strategic Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; mayatthey prosper all that love you Celebrating Children's Education Habonim take responsibility for what we’ve done directly to the person we’ve Engagement, American Jewish Distribution wronged, Peace be within your gates,17, and 2011 prosperity within your palaces. give back what Thursday, November we’ve taken, try to the disposition within ourselves Committee: Jews ofchange Germany & Europe For the sakePM of my brethren and friends, I will now say: 'Peace be have 6:30 - 9:00 that may led to our wrongful actions in the first place, and overall May 13 – Jonathan Chariton, former member of try to For More within you.'Information Please Contact make amends. It’sDefense a nice thing to focus on oncein a year: becoming Israel Force: Serving the IDF and a better Jonill 212.244.4880 For theMayer sake ofatthe house of the Lord our God I will seek your good. Israel’s Rules of Engagement person by fixing our mistakes. or
[email protected]
May 20 – Doron Kenter: Mensches&Schmendriks: A calendar reminder: Israel Independence Day, Yom Ha-atzma-ut falls whereas However, we benefit greatly from taking responsibility and trying to Selections from the Talmud, Tractate Ta'anit on May THE 2. TheDATE day before is Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. At we’ve SAVE fix what broken, this is a reactive or “after the fact” response to our eleven 27 o’clock Israel. ItYOM April -29,sirens 2012sound and everything comes to a halt in mistakes. is whatHA’ATZMAUT the rabbinic literature calls b’dei avad, or an ex posteriori May 2, 7:30 pm Traffic Ever stops,Habonim people emerge from theirRetreat! cars in silence; folk response on the toTuesday, First Shabbaton our bad behavior. Film Presentation: “Raising The Roof” street stop to reflect on the lives lost in the creation of the state. A different question we should ask ourselves at this time is: how can we Several years ago while on a UJA Mission, on Yom Hazikaron, ISRAEL BONDS BRUNCH SISTERHOOD HAPPENINGS proactively strategize crafting ourselves standing outside of the Israel Museum, I watched as a dove winging Sunday, May 21, 11:00into ambecoming a better person along the way “before the fact,” mi lechat’chilah, before making mistakes? Guest speaker: Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, IDF Fixing its way from the east, landed on a fence, resting there for the full two Membership Networking Pizza Party our mistakes after the fact is necessary, but not sufficient to living a life well In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Reunification minutes before flying back toward the Old City. I was reminded of a Monday, September 19, 7:00 pm at Habonim of Jerusalem lived. How do we build ourselves into being that “better person” we rabbinicfor Midrash: ($9.00 non-members) generally hope ourselves to become?
As the dove is whole, so Israel is whole-hearted [in its SHAVUOT Tuesday, 30, 8:15for pm Shavuot Octoberdevotion Book to Club – As date Big question, and here’sMay one response theErev coming year 5772: To craft a God]. thepending dove is distinguished, so Israel is Rabbi Kenter learning session at JCC The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein good life is to have a conscious approach to living. method of distinguished through circumcision and tzitzit (knotted strings Wednesday, May 31, 9:30 am ShavuotOne Day 1 building ourselves into better people where everyone wins is to Be Happy. on their four-cornered garments). As the dove is chaste, so Service (office closed) Sisterhood in the Sukkah Israel is chaste. … As the dove atones for sin, soIt Israel 1, 9:30 aminsight. Shavuot Day happiness 2 may soundThursday, and feel likeJune an underwhelming Of course is Sunday, October 16 at 11:30 am atones for the nations of the world. As the dove is faithful to Service with Yizkor (office closed) good! But on a moment’s reflection, we may be surprised at how little we Speaker from the West Side Campaign Against Hunger her mate from the first moment they meet, so Israel remains think about intentionally QUEENS working on our happiness in productive ways. faithfulfor to aGod. the dove is saved by her wings, so Israel ADULT EDUCATION Small charge lightAs brunch radio talk show personality and commentator Dennis Prager wrote an is saved by the commandments. As the dove The never Wednesday, May 3, 8:15 pm interesting that is worth a read, Happiness is a Serious Problem. abandons its cote, even uponReyna the loss of its young, so Israel book Speaker-Nutritionist/Member SHABBAT SERVICE Although it is not supported as much by studies, data, and statistics (frankly, Franco continues to observe the pilgrim festivals each year, even Friday, May 12, 8:15 pm the book’s biggest weakness), Tuesday,after November 8 at 7:30 of pmthe at Habonim the destruction Holy Temple. As the dove MEMORIAL DAY his common sense proposals and conclusions are worth thinking about and acting upon. One of his produces a new brood each month, so does Israel produce Monday, May office closed Being happy is 29 a moral obligation. new Torah insights and new good deeds each month. conclusions: As the SEPTEMBER 2011
MAY 2017
(Continued on p. 7)
COMING UP IN JUNE (continued on p 4) Friday, June 9 Adult Shabbat Dinner !1
CONGREGATION HABONIM
CONDOLENCES
email:
[email protected] / www.habonim.net Rabbi Barry Kenter * Cantor Bruce Halev * Richard Kargauer *
ext 109 ext 107 ext 101
Rina Cohen Schwarz
ext 105
Tina Lobel
ext 108
Ann Obsatz
ext 123
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL DIRECTOR NURSERY SCHOOL DIRECTOR
ASSOCIATE NURSERY SCHOOL DIR
OFFICE STAFF Kenny Altman Louise Rode Roy Ramsey Adina Rifkin
ext 103 ext 102 ext 106 ext 100
MAINTENANCE STAFF Matvey Khazanov ext 122 Jesus Gutierrez ext 122
PRESIDENT
David Feuerstein VICE PRESIDENT
Michael Harwayne VICE PRESIDENT
Richard Verner
VICE PRESIDENT
Stephen Berman TREASURER
Susan Grant SECRETARY
PAST PRESIDENTS Elaine Witkoff * Saul Sanders * Leo Asen John Keller * Carol Kahn Strauss Ralph Stein, MD z”l * indicates ex officio board member
TRUSTEES Jonathan Chariton Nita Gottesman Wendy Halperin Amy Kargauer Debra Karlstein Jennifer Kenter Maya Levy-Merdinger Marc Mehl Paul Millman Jeffrey Moelis Abigail Schlaff Howard Stoffer Joanne Tuckman Elisa Winokur
On the passing of Gerd Fenchel, a Founding Member of Habonim, husband of Leslie Fenchel, father of Eric Fenchel & Karen Spiler.
TEMPLE SERVICES
HONORARY TRUSTEES Arthur Falkenstein z”l Herman Lichtenberg z”l Peter Mayer z”l Marga Walter z”l
Nita Gottesman EDITOR
DEPARTMENTS & THEIR EXTENSIONS Adult Education 100 Membership Bookkeeping 102 Nursery School/Admissions Bulletin 100 Religious School/Youth Cemetery 100 & Family Programming Kiddush Sponsorship 100 Service Times & Location Life Cycle Events 100 Space Rental Maintenance 122
100 106 105 100 100
CONGREGATION HABONIM is a member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Please inform the Habonim office of all Life Cycle events in your family: births, deaths, anniversaries, awards, promotions and any other joyous occasion. Contact Adina Rifkin at ext 100 or
[email protected] MAY 2017
On the passing of Joseph Lawrence Forstadt, father of Jonathan Forstadt, father-in-law of Deborah Damesek, grandfather of Benny, Jack and Theo Forstadt. To the family of Hannelore Adler, longtime members of Habonim, whose husband, Irving Adler z”l, was one of the Founders of Congregation Habonim.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Neil Goldstein
On the passing of Leon Rappaport, father of Evan Rappaport, father-in-law of Suzanne Gordon, grandfather of Elana, Aden and Mikayla Rappaport.
Yahrzeit / Memorial Plaques Plaques are displayed outside the Sanctuary Tree of Life Leaves Commemorate special occasions or honor someone special with a leaf displayed on our entrance wall Prayer Books Book plate dedications for all occasions Facilities Rental Available for private parties Kiddush Sponsorships Sponsor an Oneg Shabbat Cemetery Plots Plots are available at Cedar Park Cemetery Paramus, NJ in the Habonim section For more information contact Adina Rifkin at
[email protected] or call 212-787-5347 Ext.100
Please send all donations and/or payments to: CONGREGATION HABONIM C/O KESEF ACCOUNTING SERVICES P.O. BOX 159 MONTVALE, NJ 07645-0159 It would be most appreciated and helpful.
The deadline for the June bulletin is May 15th. Please email articles, photos and ads to
[email protected] !2
The month of May marks a great transition for the Religious School students of Congregation Habonim. We will celebrate our first Shabbat Shehecheyanu with our community on May 19, when we will formally mark the end of the academic year and move up our students to their next grade of learning within the Religious School. Our students will help lead parts of the service that evening, and it will be a true celebration for our entire Habonim community. All of our students in Gan – Zayin (Kindergarten-7 th grade) officially move up to their next grade of Jewish learning, a Shehecheyanu moment – during which we will recite the blessing for reaching this time with joy and gladness and gratitude to God. The words of the Shehecheyanu blessing are: Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higianu laz'man hazeh. B l e s s e d a r e Yo u , Eternal our God, Sovereign of all: for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season. Our Zayin (7th grade) students have heard all year that their Jewish education is most definitely not over, and beginning in 8th grade, there is a shift for them to a more flexible program of learning and participation within the synagogue at large. All of our 8th-12th grade students are part of our
MAY 2017
teen program: Our teens become members of USY (United Synagogue Youth), which is an international youth movement for teens from Conservative synagogues across the world. And, in terms of text study, our teens have a monthly Dine & Discuss program with our rabbi. There are a myriad of ways that teens can find their own roles at Habonim: volunteering with our younger grades during Religious School afternoons, helping at Shabbat morning youth services, signing up to help with/at various programs throughout the year, reading Torah or
chanting Haftorah for the congregation on Shabbat and holidays, and more. Please reach out to help make the right connection for your child, who is now a young Jewish adult within the eyes of our tradition and should find their place within our community. During Shehecheyanu Shabbat, any Habonim students who are in 12th grade will receive a special blessing. We will celebrate their graduation from high school and find out what their plans are for the coming year. We hope you will join us on May 19. Shehecheyanu Shabbat will also give us an opportunity to thank our Religious School teachers for providing thoughtful, meaningful, creative and valuable lessons for our students and their parents. Our Torah and Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people, all come alive within the Religious School classrooms, and it is all thanks to our remarkable teachers! I encourage all of our Religious School families to join us at this very special service on May 19, with a celebratory dinner f o l l o w i n g . Registration for dinner can be done through the Habonim website (see one of Kenny’s emails for the specific link). Rina Cohen Schwarz Religious School Director
!3
In celebration of the upcoming Passover holiday, the children enjoyed a visit from the Model Matzah Bakery and participated in special seders, led by Rabbi Kenter and Cantor Bruce. Each classroom sang songs and engaged in wonderful conversations about the meaning of the holiday. When the children returned from Passover break, they were thrilled to welcome warmer spring days. In celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, the children transformed their classrooms into various locales in Israel. The Orange Room became The Dead Sea. They set up two stations – art projects and special activities. The Blue Room became the Kotel, the Western Wall. The students made jewelry and built the wall with brick blocks and inserted notes in the spaces bearing messages of prayer or requests. The Purple Room was the Shuk Carmel in Tel Aviv. The Purple Roomers shopped, made and feasted on Israeli salad. Finally, the Red Room was Kibbutz Ein Gev. They decorated pots and planted seeds in them. It was a delight for all to “travel to Israel”. We hope our parents and others in our community will also join with us on May 25th at 6:00 pm to welcome our new families whose children will be entering the Nursery School this fall. This will be a wonderful opportunity to share our warmth and friendship with them.
Looking ahead, in June, we are pleased to offer our June School Program. It is a twoweek camp program immediately following the end of school. Many families have already registered and plan to participate. Happily, there is still time to sign up! In the fall, we will again be offering our popular Early Explorers Program. More and more families have become interested. It is very exciting and we are delighted that so many of our youngest students will be moving up to our Nursery School. So much wonderful learning has taken place this year. The next time that you are at Habonim, please take a moment to look at the creative work that the Nursery School children have done, examples of which are displayed on the bulletin boards outside of the classrooms. The Red Roomers are getting ready to graduate and move on to wonderful public and private schools. We have much to look forward to in school and the weeks ahead. Best, Tina Lobel Nursery School Director
TORAH FUND LUNCHEON
MAY 2017
!4
SISTERHOOD Lots of things to look forward to, so please make note of what might interest YOU and save the dates! BOOK DISCUSSIONS June 7th (note date change) - Book TBD *********************************************************** METS v MARLINS GAME - Sunday, May 7th, 1 pm Checks payable to Sisterhood for $30 per ticket. Really good seats - Section 510, rows 13 & 14! Only a few left, so reserve now! Everyone who attended last year had a blast - families, singles, young and old. All (yes, even non-members) are welcome. Email
[email protected] to reserve tickets and put the check in the mail. JOIN US!! *********************************************************** SISTERHOOD SHABBAT - Saturday, June 3rd Torah portions, haftarah, and d’var Torah have already been given out. But there are other honors, pieces of the service, or a poem/song that YOU can do! To participate, please email Deena at
[email protected].
*********************************************************** WOMEN’S LEAGUE CONVENTION, July 23-26 Sisterhood subsidizes your attendance! This year’s Convention is in Arlington VA, an easy Amtrak ride from the City. You can go for the full Convention or various combinations of days if you have limited time. Meet women from synagogues all over the country; peruse displays and possibly purchase: woman-made tallitot and kippot; Israeli goods & foods; Jewish books; and so much more. Socialize, mingle, attend assorted workshops … so many enticing and enriching things to see and do! For more information, do check out Convention 2017 on wlcj.org. If you think you might be interested, please email
[email protected] for schedule and registration materials! The sooner we lock in our train and hotel reservations, the better! Amy Kargauer & Janet Cord Co-Presidents
TORAH FUND LUNCHEON Photos courtesy of: Ellie Schaffer and Renee Edelman MAY 2017
!5
Watch as artists Rick and Laura Brown embark on what turns into a 10-year pursuit to rebuild Gwozdziec, a magnificent wooden eighteenth century synagogue in Poland that was destroyed by the Nazis. Their vision inspires hundreds of people to join them to bring Gwozdziec's history, culture, science, and art back to life. Raise the Roof provides a window into a time period that is often clouded by fictional representations.
Congregation Habonim
7th Annual Parents' Cocktail Party
May 10, 8 pm
At the home of Wendy and Alan Halperin
Questions? email Wendy at
[email protected]
MAY 2017
!6
YOM YERUSHALIYAM (continued from p. 1) dove flies far away [in search of food] but always returns to its cote, so Israel [shall return to its land] (Midrash: Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:63, with Eitz Yosef, abridged). Fifty years ago, just after the Six Day War whose fiftieth anniversary we mark this year, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: The Lord of history has always placed us in predicaments, and this seems to be a part of our destiny, never to relax in complacency, but to face difficult tasks, to live by the challenge. In this world there is no gem, which is not in need of refinement, no wheat without chaff, no vineyard without weeds, no roses without thorns. Light and shadow are mingled. There is a need of refining, rethinking. The joy and exaltation that come from Israel reborn are mixed with pain and chagrin over the suffering and bitterness that are found in the Middle East today [Israel: An Echo of Eternity, p. 173]. In 1967, Naomi Shemer wrote her “Jerusalem of Gold”; in 1980, she penned “Al Kol Eleh,” with the following translated lines: Over the honey and the thorn Over the bitter and the sweet Over our infant daughter Grant your protection, Good Lord Over the burning fires Over the clear waters Over the man who returns home From distant places Over all these, please grant Your protection, Good Lord Over the honey and over the thorn Over the bitter and over the sweet. Do not uproot that which has been planted Do not forget the great hope [al tishhak et ha-tikvah] Bring me back and I shall return To the good Land There is the dvash and the oketz, the honey and the sting, but for Zion’s sake I will not remain silent. For some 2000 years we have longed for a return to the land that was our ancestral and historic home, and for well more than a century we have sung with hope and with pride of what Israel is and or should be – Jewish State: li’yot am hofshi b’artzeynu – to be a free people in our own land. As the sign outside of many synagogues says, “Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel” May marks the arrival of Solomon Schechter in America. Credited with being the shaper of what we now know as Conservative Judaism, Schechter proclaimed “Zionism was and still is, the most cherished dream I was worthy of having.” This was not a popular position among the Reform or the Orthodox.
MAY 2017
More than one hundred years ago Schechter wrote, “The activity of Zionism must not be judged by what it has accomplished in Zion and Jerusalem – where it has to deal with political problems not yet ripe for solution – but by what it has thus far achieved for Zion and Jerusalem, through the awakening of the national Jewish consciousness . . . Zionism declares boldly to the world that Judaism means to preserve its life by not losing its life. It shall be a true and healthy life, with a policy of its own, invigorated by sacred memories and sacred environments, and proving a tower of strength and of unity not only for the remnant gathered within the borders of the Holy Land, but also for those who shall, by choice or necessity, prefer what now constitutes the Galuth [Diaspora]….” How well I remember that May and June of 1967. Tensions ran high. Jewish identity bubbled over as we watched newscasts coming from the Middle East. Many were making plans to fly to Israel (no mean feat in 1967) to volunteer to run day to day operations as the Israeli military geared up for war. And then, Jerusalem reunited with its heady promise of a different reality. As Heschel wrote then, “History is not a blind alley, we believe, and there is always a way that leads out of stupidity and sin. Over all the darkness of experience hovers the vision of a different day.” For, as Yehudah Amichai wrote in 1968: Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of the ages of ages.
The Temple Mount is a great ship, a pleasure yawl
In splendor. From the portholes of her Wailing Wall, jubilant saints
Peer like passengers. Hasidim on the pier wave
Goodbye, yelling hurrah, bon voyage. She
Is always docking, always embarking. And the fences and docks
And policemen and flags and churches' high masts
And the mosques and the smokestacks of synagogues and the chanteys
Of praise and mountain-billows. The ram's horn sounds out sunset: one more
Has set sail. Yom Kippur sailors in white uniforms
Ascend between the ropes and ladders of tried-and-true prayers.
And the profits of market and gates and goldencap domes:
Jerusalem is the Venice of God [Translated by A.Z. Foreman]. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper all that love you Peace be within your gates, and prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and friends, I will now say: 'Peace be within you.' For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.
- Rabbi Barry Kenter
!7
Adult Shabbat Dinner At Congregation Habonim Friday, June 9 With guest speaker Dr. Howard Stoffer. Dr. Stoffer is a member of Congregation Habonim, and serves as Associate Professor of National Security at the University of New Haven. He is a former US foreign service officer and Deputy Executive Director in the UN Security Council. ——————————————————————
SHIVA COMMUNITY We all know how important it is to be able to mourn and honor our loved ones, drawing comfort from the community and from prayer. The need for sitting Shiva comes to all of us unfortunately, although we hope not soon. Please perform this Mitzvah for other Habonim members, and join our Shiva Community. By signing up (at
[email protected]), you are helping to create a group of caring people who are committed to attend Habonim Shivas, availability permitting. In the next few months, Rabbi Kenter will be conducting a class about what is involved in Shiva visits, and answering your questions. And if you are interested, the clergy would be happy to teach you how to conduct a Shiva Minyan. We all thank you for participating in this Mitzvah!
6:30 pm - Kabbalat Shabbat service goo.gl/28VChB 7:30 pm - Dinner, $36, register at goo.gl/UUzmEx.
At Congregation Habonim, 103 West End Avenue @ 64th Street We look forward to seeing you!
Congregation Habonim member, Howard Stoffer, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice & Forensic Sciences. Dr. Stoffer served in the Foreign Service of the United States from 1980 to 2005, retiring as a member of the Senior Foreign Service of the Department of State. He served for seven years as the Deputy Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate of the United Nations Security Council. His research interests focus on American national security, including nuclear arms control, U.S. policies in the Middle East, Russia, China and the Koreas as well as counter-terrorism
MAY 2017
CANDLE LIGHTING Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Tues., Wed.,
May 5 May 12 May 19 May 26 May 30 Erev Shavuot May 31 Shavuot
!8
7:38 pm 7:46 pm 7:52 pm 7:58 pm 8:01 pm 9:10 pm
TEAM HABONIM BUILDING A JEWISH COMMUNITY TOGETHER
THANK YOU TO THE SISTERHOOD OF CONGREGATION HABONIM FOR ITS GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE MONTHLY BULLETIN MAILING
CONGREGATION HABONIM 103 West End Avenue New York, NY 10023
