Coming Up
Wednesday, May 16 - 6 to 7 PM - Intermediate Hebrew taught by Rabbi Harley. 10 Wednesdays. This is week #9. You will become more fluent in reading and learn the meanings, and the meanings behind the meanings of basic words of prayer and Bible. Please click here for more information
Wednesday, May 16 - 7 PM - What does it mean to be pro-Israel in America today" - A special panel discussion. Hebrew Educational Alliance, Denver. Please see attached flyer for more information.
Thursday, May 17 - 12 noon to 1 PM - Torah Thursday!! Bring your brown bag lunch. Click here for more information
Thursday, May 17 - 6 to 7 PM - Introduction to Hebrew taught by Jeff Weinstein. 10 Thursdays. This is week #9. You will learn to read the letters and to understand some basic vocabulary of prayer and Bible. Please click here for more information.
Friday, May 18 - 7 PM - Shabbat Evening Services led by Rabbi Harley, followed by oneg sponsored by the Sisterhood.
Saturday, May 19 - 9:30 AM - Shabbat morning services led by Rabbi Harley, followed by oneg sponsored by the Sisterhood. Torah Study at 10:30 AM.
Sunday, May 20 - all day: Yiddish Food Festival. Click here for more information.
Sunday, May 27 - 1 to 3 PM - Jewish & Israeli Dancing. For more information, please contact Bea Montross.
Saturday, June 9 - 8 AM - The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless presents the annual Walk In My Shoes fundraiser. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m., Walk takes off at 9:00 a.m. Food, fun, door prizes, music, and more. Click on the links below to sign up as a ghost walker/walker http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm, (this is for June 9, 2012) or as a sponsor at http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm For more information contact Virginia Sellner at 634-8499, Mon - Fri from 10 am until 2 pm.
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Weekly Message from our Board President
May 14, 2012
It’s finally here – or almost! The Yiddish Food Festival is this coming Sunday. If you are volunteering, thank you for all of your hard work (our cooks have been in the kitchen for weeks). If you are planning on volunteering on Sunday, thanks in advance!
So what can we look forward to? The dancers have been practicing for months, learning and fine tuning new moves. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at their skill, and the new dances they’ve worked out. And yes, we’re inviting you to come up and learn some new steps!
There will be tours of the Synagogue. Encourage your non-Jewish friends to come and see a Torah up close, or learn about the Mikvah (and if you haven’t seen it, take a tour yourself!)
The music is always a treat. Hal Aqua and the Lost Tribe will be playing what they call nouveau Klezmer music, rooted in traditional Jewish melodies. Members of our congregation have been known to jump on stage and join them in a song or two.
And then there’s the food. That always packs our social hall. Cheyenne will go Kosher on Sunday, as our community gets a taste of the best Kosher foods our chefs can provide. And I’ll put good Jewish cooking up against any other ethnic group. Have you ever heard of a Jewish mother who wasn’t an amazing cook? Our kitchen has been filled with them for weeks, working hard, preparing everything from Mandelbrot and Honey cake to Hamentashen and Cabbage Rolls. You won’t go away hungry!
Our synagogue will be filled with laughter, music, fun, and most of all people! All of Cheyenne looks forward to the Yiddish Food Festival, and they turn out by the hundreds. Come see your friends and neighbors, and help us introduce them to Mt. Sinai. See you Sunday!
Shalom!
Dave Lerner
President, Mt. Sinai Board of Directors
Rabbi's Column
Fund our Mandates and Read
PS. Please do not start reading new books until after you volunteer, as much as you can, for our Yiddish Food Festival, this Sunday’s highlight of the year.
The freshness of spring (as a newcomer to Cheyenne, I may be premature in declaring spring yet) starts a new year, paralleling what our Torah terms the first month, Aviv (“Spring”) or Nissan, celebrated with Passover, the birth of our people, newly free. The freshness of spring draws us to dream anew – freed from the restraints (Pharaohs or the “narrow place” of Mitzrayim/ Egypt) of past failures, habits, and guilt (as if Jews are ever bothered by that). Our new spring dreams, even if revised versions of old ones, are as vital as our New Year’s dreams, whether January or Rosh Hashanah.
Yet, each year, spring dreams crash against this wall. To transform our dreams into reality, we must make new commitments. How can we, who are already overwhelmed, add new commitments? Most of us need to subtract from our existing commitments. So, our first commitment needs to be -- no unfunded mandates. When we add anything new, we must subtract a similar size demand. Otherwise, things will be taken from us, without our choosing priorities.
When our mandates are well funded (I am still working on this step), then we are ready to expand our understanding and perspectives. That might mean summer reading. So, here is my current list of favorite books and sites.
Faith: Harold Schulweis, For Those Who Can’t Believe; Arthur Green, Ehyeh – A Kabbalah for Tomorrow; Abraham Joshua Heschel, Between God and Man.
To respond to our kids, and ourselves: David Wolpe, Teaching Your Children About God; Harold Kushner, When Children Ask About God.
Holidays: Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way; Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays; Harold Kushner, To Life.
Jewish Practice: Mark Washofsky, Jewish Living (Reform); Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice (Conservative); Olitsky-Isaacs, The Complete How to Handbook for Jewish Living .
History: Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People; Chaim Potok, Wanderings; Robert Seltzer, Jewish People, Jewish Thought; Jonathan Sarna: American Judaism.
Torah: Plaut, (URJ/ Reform) The Torah: A Modern Commentary, (2005); RA/ USCJ (Conservative) Etz Hayim – Torah and Commentary; Jewish Publication Society, The JPS Torah Commentary, 5 vols; Burton Visotsky, The Genesis of Ethics; Norman Cohen, Self, Struggle, & Change (Families in Genesis); Rachel Mikvah, Broken Tablets – Restoring the Ten Commandments; Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative; Harvey Fields, A Commentary for Our Times.
Israel: Donna Rosenthal, The Israelis; Abraham Joshua Heschel, Israel: An Echo of Eternity; Mitchell Bard, Myths and Facts, 2001 edition; A Complete Idiots Guide to the Middle East.
Holocaust: Louis Weber, The Holocaust Chronicle,www.holocaustchronicle.org; Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews; Raul Hilberg, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders; the web sites of the US Holocaust Memorial museum and of Yad Vashem, both of which have easily searchable encyclyopedia.
Prayer: Richard Levy, On Wings of Awe (Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur); On Wings of Light (Shabbat); On Wings of Freedom (Passover); Lawrence Hoffman, The Way into Prayer; CCAR, Mishkan Tefilah – the New Reform Siddur, 2006.
Overall: Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy; Ted Falcon & David Blatner, Judaism for Dummies.
Web Resources: www..mtsinaicheyenne.org – a portal to local activities, rituals, & Jewish sites; www.myjewishlearning.com – a well funded overview of everything Jewish; www.urj.org – Reform movement’s entrée to the web; www.ucsj.org – internet home of Conservative Judaism.
Web Resources about Israel and News about Jews: www.israelpolicyforum.org -- the Israel Policy Forum, a progressive group of analysts and activists; www.aipac.org -- AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; www.jta.org -- the Jewish Telegraphic Agency; www.jstreet.org – J Street (pro-Israel, pro-peace); www.adl.org the Anti-Defamation League; www.adifferentfuture.org or www.walktheroadtopeace.org. – related Multifaith peace efforts.
If you would like a book or site on another other Jewish topic, please contact me.
Happy Summer.
L'shalom,
Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman |
