Trouble With The Curve

There are a lot of great sports movies but the one I’m going to tell you about isn’t one of them. The one I want to talk about is a nice, warm film called “Trouble with the Curve”. It stars Clint Eastwood as a veteran baseball scout who has always had an eye for great players in the making but now his eyes are failing, and he is having trouble. (more…)

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October 2022: President’s Message

I’m writing October’s message after three back-to-back Shabbats in August/September that included a bat mitzvah, a morning b’nai mitzvah and afternoon bat mitzvah, and a bar mitzvah. Mazel Tov to Saraya, William, Carly, Leah, and Joshua! About 25 years ago, I sat in the same chair that you sat in next to Rabbi Scolnic, and I just want to remind you that your TBS Family will always be here for you. We invite you to return in 25 years to take on a leadership role at TBS, such as President. (more…)

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Israel Matters! – October 2022

Split Decision – The 2022 Israeli Election

If it seems like you’ve seen an Israeli election column before in Israel Matters, there’s a reason for that: the May 2021 issue covered last year’s Israeli Knesset election. That election, which took place on March 23, 2021, took almost three months to resolve as the new government was not established and sworn in until June 13. Uh, that was June 13th of last year; the government lasted just over a year until the Knesset was dissolved on June 20 of this year. So, once again Israelis get to experience the highs and lows of their nearly-impossible-to-comprehend electoral system where parties (and party leaders) come and go amidst the horse trading that takes place as one or the other “bloc” attempts to secure enough seats to establish a majority in the 120 seat Knesset. (more…)

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DNA analysis solves mystery of bodies found at bottom of medieval well

By Katie Hunt, CNN  Tue August 30, 2022

Construction workers breaking ground in 2004 on a shopping mall in Norwich, England, found 17 bodies at the bottom of a 800-year-old well. The identity of the remains of the six adults and 11 children and why they ended up in the medieval well had long vexed archaeologists. Unlike other mass burials where skeletons are uniformly arranged, the bodies were oddly positioned and mixed — likely caused by being thrown head first shortly after their deaths. (more…)

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September 2022: President’s Message

September 2022

I haven’t been in the magazine publishing industry for several years, yet here I am, writing my first regular bulletin article on deadline day, August 12th.

My first few weeks as President of Temple Beth Sholom have been both exhausting and rewarding at the same time. Every morning, I wake up to several new emails or text messages that must be answered. My phone’s calendar app is being used more than ever before to keep track of meetings…and there have been a lot of them. Most of these meetings are just to prepare for the many wonderful things to come this year. (more…)

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A Religion of Love

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

If you grew up when I did, you probably remember the book and movie Love Story. The book, published by Erich Segal in 1970, was a bestseller. The movie based on the book, released in the same year, made stars of Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw. They play college students Jenny and Oliver from opposite social economic backgrounds who fall in love and marry. They then must deal with tragedy as she contracts cancer. This is not a spoiler; her death is the first line of the book. (more…)

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Israel Matters! – September 2022

Ma Yesh b’Telivisia? (Which of course means “what’s on TV?”)

TV programming might seem a stretch for an issue of Israel Matters, but of course, here we are talking about what’s on Israeli TV. There was a time when there was only a single channel in Israel, and it was multipurpose – news followed by entertainment at night, kid shows in the morning, game shows and special features in the afternoon followed by an hour of Arabic and all of ten minutes of news in English, along with religious programming very early in the morning and late at night. But those days are gone, and Israelis have countless channels of their own to surf, not to mention international channels from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as some American channels and lots of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. (more…)

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July/August 2022: President’s Message

Shabbat Shalom.
I would like to begin with a special thanks to Shira Rosenblatt. I was thrilled when you replied to my text message that you would be honored to be our installing officer this year. I’ve always admired your dedication to this synagogue. I look forward to working with you this year as you embark on your role as Programming VP. I know you think you’re going to do this for just one year, but we’ll see what happens. (more…)

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