What is the definition of a Gabbai?
“A Gabbai maintains the ritual of the Torah and the Torah service,”says Joan Levine, our Gabbai at Temple Beth Sholom.” What I really find fulfilling, is calling someone up for their first time or for their simcha, or even for their yahrzeit.”
The Watchman Monday, Aug. 16, 1948The Jews beat the Arabs. Out of the concentration camps, ghettoes, banks, courtrooms, theaters and factories of Europe the Chosen People had assembled and had won their first great military victory since Judas Maccabeus* beat the Syrian Nicanor at Adasa 2,109 years ago. Their success has been hidden from the world by U.N. maneuvering and by a confusing war of a hundred skirmishes with real battles. Although, in years to come, fighting might break out again & again, its probable pattern was "fixed: the Jews were too tough, too smart and too vigorous for the divided and debilitated Arab world to conquer. As the U.N. truce settled on Palestine last week it seemed probable that the new state of Israel, already recognized by 15 nations, would seek and get U.N. membership at next fall's meeting in Paris. It was time to stop pondering the settled question of whether there would be a Jewish state, time, to…
Wernick Promises Sweeping Change For United Synagogue Rabbi Steven Wernick: Wants to “re-engage” Conservative synagogues. by Stewart AinStaff Writer With the Conservative movement’s congregational arm under attack on two fronts, the group’s incoming executive stepped into the fray this week with bold promises for sweeping change. “One of the greatest frustrations is that the United Synagogue is not transparent or sufficiently responsive to the needs of the synagogue,” the executive, Rabbi Steven Wernick, told The Jewish Week. “I want to re-energize and re-engage the synagogues by creating priorities and an agenda of the United Synagogue and therefore also the movement. “I’m going to do it using the phone, by traveling and through electronic meeting spaces. I’m going to listen. People are doing great things, and we need to talk to each other ... I plan to have serious conversations with the leadership of synagogues on a local level.” The United…
FoundationStone is a FREE application and support materials designed to help you learn Hebrew - an essential part of a Jewish education. The "Online Hebrew Tutorial" is available as part of the download - a complete, condensed set of language lessons to learn Hebrew. It can also be browsed online. HOW IT WORKS - By recording which words you are getting wrong and reviewing those words more frequently, the program adapts your program of study to your individual needs. Contrast this to the standard method of learning using lists of words on paper - the words you already know get the same attention as words you don't. Words can be reviewed from English to Hebrew or Hebrew to English, and reviewed in random order so you are not remembering them from their position in the list. Statistics are provided and allow you to set personal goals for each session. By…
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Many people have approached me and asked if I am enjoying my role as President of the Temple. Of course, the answer is yes—I have to say the main reason it is so enjoyable is because I get to interview wonderful members. This week I caught up with Milton Caplan. He and his wife Patti have been members of TBS for 45 years. (more…)
Conservative Judaism, the centrist denomination that once dominated American Jewish religious life, faces a crucial juncture this spring in its quest to halt a lingering decline. The United Synagogue, the movement’s congregational arm, is set to hire a new executive officer, completing a wholesale generational change of guard in Conservative Judaism’s three major institutions.The leadership change could offer the movement a rare opportunity to reverse its fortunes. But in an interview with the Forward, United Synagogue lay president Raymond Goldstein, who is directing the job search, hinted at difficulties in articulating a vision of future Conservative renewal. That could make it hard to find a transformational CEO able to implement such a vision. Asked at one point what changes the movement might need to achieve renewal, Goldstein replied, half in jest, “If you have the answer, we’ll buy it from you.”In fact, the movement already bought an answer, in the…
Israeli Election Produces No Clear Winner
Both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s Kadima party and Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition Likud styled themselves the winners of Israel’s elections, after it became apparent that Kadima had won the most seats in the new Knesset, but the Likud-led right-wing would constitute the larger bloc. (more…)
Tu B’ShevatMonday, February 9th, is Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish new year of the trees. The name of this holiday is actually its date: “Tu” is a pronunciation of the Hebrew letters for the number 15, and it falls in the Hebrew month of Shevat.In ancient times, Jewish farmers relied on Tu B’Shevat to determine when they were permitted, under Jewish law, to receive the fruits of their harvests. The Torah states, “When you enter the land [of Israel] and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.” (Leviticus 19:23). The law required that the fruit of the fourth year be offered in gratitude to the priests of the Temple. The fruit of the fifth year, and all years following, was finally for the farmer. This law raised the need to mark the “birthday” of…
I was unable to organize a shipment of holiday gifts for our Jewish troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, so I am planning a different mailing this year, this one in time for Purim. It certainly would be appropriate to send Mishloach Manot in the form of hamentaschen and snacks. It would also be great to include leisure time activity items such as CDs or DVDs, puzzle books, magazines, and small games, as well as health and hygiene items such as hand sanitizers, toothpaste and toothbrushes, etc. If you and/or your children would like to write a letter or enclose a card that would also be very much appreciated. I have a list of about twenty-five names, and I would like to prepare these packages on a Sunday, February 22 at TBS after the Adult Education program (ca. 11:00 AM). If you can help, by donating items, contributing to underwrite…