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BHBIRochester.org Published Monthly Vol 45/No 6 Adar I-II 5771 March 2011 Editor: Stan Schaffer |
Congregation Beth Hamedresh – Beth Israel B U L L E T I N |
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March
President’s Message Dear Friends, We were saddened last
week to hear of the passing of Muriel Hobel. I was particularly surprised
because I had talked to her only a couple of weeks previously and she was
sounding pretty good at that time. It’s tempting to use phrases such as “end
of an era”, even though there are others in our congregation from Muriel’s
generation who are very much with us. Muriel was always here. I can barely
think of any event we had where Muriel wasn’t present up to the point that
her mobility problems became bad enough that she moved to Heather Heights.
For many years Muriel was on our Board. When the kitchen was full of
Sisterhood women frying latkes, Muriel was there. Whenever we had our picnic,
Muriel was there. One of the great blessings of having our new elevator was
that Muriel was able to attend our most recent Chanukah party. Everyone
remarked on how well she looked. While I’m at it, I want
to point out a serious error in the obituary which appeared in the Democrat
and Chronicle. The obit says that she and Ben were married 60 years, but Ben
assures me they were married 62 years. If you haven’t had a chance to
talk to Ben, give him a call at the Jewish Home. I’m sure he’d appreciate
hearing from you. I always enjoyed
talking to Muriel. She was a fount of information about our shul’s past. I’ll
miss her. One of the other recent
events Muriel was able to attend was last year’s Shabbat Across America
dinner at Temple Beth Am. We have been invited to join them again this year,
and again this year some of the residents of Heather Heights will be with us.
It will be on March 4th. There was a flyer in last month’s
bulletin. If you hurry, you may still be able to get reservations. Another event this
month will be our Purim celebration, which will be held in the Senior Adult
Lounge at the JCC on Saturday night, March 19th. The service will
be conducted jointly with Beth Am and Rabbi Goldberg will be officiating.
This year the megillah will be read partially in English and partially
chanted in Hebrew by several of our members. Chabad is also having their
Purim service at the JCC, but I don’t think it will be hard for you to figure
out which service is ours. I’ll look forward to seeing you there. Shalom, Leon Metlay |
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Have a Happy Purim! |
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BHBI CALENDAR OF EVENTS – MARCH
2011
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Friday |
Mar 4 |
6:30 PM |
Joint Shabbat Across America Dinner and Service with Temple Beth Am at Beth Am Light candles at 5:44 PM |
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Saturday |
Mar 5 |
9:30 AM |
Shabbat Morning Service Torah: Pekudei |
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Sunday |
Mar 6 |
9:00 AM |
Service,
Breakfast and Discussion |
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Wednesday |
Mar 9 |
7:30 PM |
Joint Torah Study with members of Temple Beth Am and Temple Beth David at BHBI |
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Friday |
Mar 11 |
8:00 PM |
Joint Shabbat Evening Service with Temple Beth Am at Beth Am with Rabbi Goldberg officiating Light candles at 5:53
PM |
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Saturday |
Mar 12 |
9:30 AM |
Shabbat Morning Service with Temple Beth Am at BHBI Torah: Vayikrah |
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Sunday |
Mar 13 |
9:00 AM |
Service,
Breakfast and Discussion |
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Monday |
Mar 14 |
7:30 PM |
Monthly Meeting of the BHBI Board of Trustees |
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Friday |
Mar 18 |
8:00 PM |
Shabbat Evening Service Light candles at 7:01 PM |
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Saturday |
Mar 19 |
9:30 AM 7:15 PM |
Shabbat Morning Service Torah: Tzav Joint Purim Megillah Reading with Temple Beth Am at the JCC Senior Adult Lounge with Rabbi Goldberg officiating |
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Sunday |
Mar 20 |
9:00 AM |
Service with Purim Megillah Reading, Breakfast and Discussion |
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Friday |
Mar 25 |
8:00 PM |
Shabbat Evening Service
Light
candles at 7:09 PM |
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Saturday |
Mar 26 |
9:30 AM |
Shabbat Morning Service Torah: Shemini |
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Sunday |
Mar 27 |
9:00 AM |
Service, Breakfast and Discussion |
Do You Know Anyone Who is Unaffiliated and
Interested in Joining a Congregation?
Let
them know about BHBI’s special free 3 month trial membership (available
to prospective first-time new members only). Have them contact BHBI at 244-2060 or BHBI@frontiernet.net and we will be
happy to give them information about BHBI and this great offer!!
THE RABBI FUND
Contributions to the Rabbi Fund enable us to engage
Rabbi Goldberg to lead additional services at BHBI during the year. Whenever the funds in the Rabbi Fund
reach a predetermined level, we will schedule an additional service with Rabbi
Goldberg. To contribute to this
purpose, please send a check in to BHBI with a notation that the contribution
should be used for the Rabbi Fund.
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FROM THE RABBI’S DESK By RABBI GEOFFREY GOLDBERG March 2011 |
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Purim, as many of us learned in Hebrew school,
is counted as one of the “minor festivals.” Even so, the rabbis held Purim,
and the events that it commemorates, in great esteem. An entire tractate of
the Talmud is dedicated to it (which is far more than can be said about
Hanukkah) and some remarkable statements about Purim are recorded in the
rabbinic literature. In Midrash on Proverbs (9:2) we read, “Should
all other festivals cease to be observed, the days of Purim will never be
annulled.” On the other hand, in the Talmud Yerushalmi (2:12) we find
the statement, “Though all other festivals be abolished, Hanukkah and Purim
will never be annulled.” But perhaps the strangest opinion of all is that
found in the midrash collection entitled Yalkut Shimoni, “All the
festivals will in the future be abolished except Purim and Yom Kippur.” This latter statement has always fascinated me.
Of course, to understand it, you need to appreciate that whoever made this
statement was having a bit of fun, since one of the names for the Day of
Atonement is Yom ha-Kippurim, which sounds like Purim. Yom Kippur and Purim seem to be poles apart.
Yom Kippur we associate with not having a good time, fasting and introspection,
being serious, and not having sexual relations. Purim, on the other hand, we
associate with having a good time, with eating and drinking, with getting a
little shikker, beauty queens, having a good joke and dressing up. If we delve into the story of Purim a little
more, we will find that it is actually somewhat deeper and more complex than
the simplistic description I have just given. For example, on Purim we also
send gifts of food to friends (mishloah manot). Purim is customarily a
time for giving tzedakah to the poor in the form of mattanot
la-evyonim, so that they will be able to make preparations for observing
Passover. There are also moments of sadness and reflection during the reading
of the Megillah, such as when the decree went out in Shushan for the
destruction of the Jews, or when reference is made the silver goblets used at
the King’s banquets which, according to the midrash, are understood to be
those stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem. (Such verses are traditionally chanted in the melody of Eikhah,
Lamentations). But why are Purim and Yom Kippur really lumped
together when they are apparently so far apart? I don’t have the perfect
answer, but one explanation I would like to suggest is that Purim and Yom
Kippur touch on the extremes. This is what they share in common. A person who
has really lived is one who has known the extremes of the human emotions,
both great joy and deep sorrow, has seized whatever opportunities came his or
her way for enjoyment and new experiences, but also taken the time for
introspection, looking within and searching the soul. We cannot live in such
extremes all the time (and that is why Purim and Yom Kippur are celebrated
only for one day each), but the extremes do pull us into places that we might
not otherwise venture. I look forward to seeing you at Temple Beth Am
and BHBI’s joint Purim service and celebration on Saturday evening, March 19th
at the JCC. Come along for the Megillah reading in Hebrew and English,
sing Purim songs, meet friends and acquaintances, indulge in hamentashen
and other goodies, reverie and fun. After this long, cold and snowy winter,
we all need a simhah to warm up our lives. Hag Purim Sameah, Rabbi Geoffrey Goldberg |
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TORAH STUDY
Join us for an
interactive session of Torah study with our friends from Temple Beth Am and
Temple Beth David at BHBI on Wednesday evening, March 9th at 7:30 p.m. The discussion is always lively!
YAHRZEITS
At the following Shabbat Services, we will read the
names of our late loved ones whose Yahrzeits will occur on that Shabbat or
during the following week.
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March 4-5 |
Adar I-II |
March 11-12 |
Adar II |
March 18-19 |
Adar II |
March 25-26 |
Adar II |
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Sadie Rose Mary Weinrib* Emma Sarachan* |
29 1 4 |
Anna Schiff* Shanie Rachel Robinson* Irving Gold * Denotes name memorialized on BHBI Memorial Plaque |
9 11 12 |
Charles Saul Gordon* Charles Ambush* Celia Engel* Max Levy |
13 15 16 17 |
Carl Astrachan* |
21 |
We pray that our mourners will be comforted among all
the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and that the memory of the deceased
continues to be a blessing to all who knew them.
GOODSEARCH.COM
Goodsearch.com
is an on-line internet search program that pays non-profit organizations like
BHBI a fee every time someone uses their search service. Go to www.goodsearch.com, enter the search term
that you want and put in BHBI on the line where it says Who Do You Goodsearch
For? BHBI will collect a fee for
each search you make!
AMAZON.COM
Why not contribute to BHBI while making on-line
purchases? The next time that you
want to buy something from Amazon.com go to the BHBI web page at www.BHBIRochester.org
and click on the Amazon.com link.
Each time you make a purchase after linking to Amazon.com from our web
page, BHBI gets a percentage of the purchase price. Buy gifts or something for yourself or your family and
support BHBI at the same time!!
MEMORIAL PLAQUES
Two new memorial plaques
were recently added to our memorial board to honor the memories of Diane Hooker
and Stanley Clark. You can also memorialize a friend or loved one by purchasing
a BHBI memorial plaque. For more
information, contact Stan Schaffer at 473-8072 or stanschaffer@frontiernet.net
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So far our TOPS Gift Card fundraiser has been
quite successful. Remember, TOPS
Gift Cards are now available through BHBI in $50 denominations. To purchase TOPS
Gift Cards, contact Stan Schaffer at 473-8072 or by e-mail at stanschaffer@frontiernet.net |
TO OUR DONORS – THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
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THANK YOU TO OUR KIDDSH SPONSORS
FOR
THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY
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February 5 |
Leon Metlay
and Nina Klionsky in honor of Katie Metlay’s 91st birthday |
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February 12 |
Leon Metlay
and Nina Klionsky in memory of Max Metlay |
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February19 |
The
Congregation |
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February 26 |
Katie Metlay
in memory of her sister, Julie Feuerberg |
Hear More About
Israel at the Jewish Federation’s Israel Series
The Jewish Federation is sponsoring a series of speakers on Israel,
titled Israel 2011. The final speaker in the
series will be Bret Stephens, the foreign affairs columnist of the Wall
Street Journal and former editor of the Jerusalem Post, who will
speak on Wednesday, March 16th at 7 pm at Temple B’rith Kodesh.
If You Didn’t Think the World Was
Crazy Enough: Desecration of the Mausoleum Containing the Tombs of Mordechai
and Esther in Iran
The
Simon Wiesenthal Center recently reported that the Iranian Basij student militia
from Bu-Ali
Sina/Avicenna University recently
held a demonstration at the mausoleum containing the tombs of Mordechai and
Esther in the Iranian city of Shush (the city known as Shushan in the Purim
story). The student demonstrators
tore off the sign at the entrance to the mausoleum denoting the site’s Jewish
historical character and declared that since (according to their interpretation
of the Purim megillah) Mordechai and Esther were responsible for organizing the
murders of 75,000 ancient Iranian martyrs on a single day at the hands of the
Jews of the ancient Persian empire, the names of Mordechai and Esther should be
blotted out of history and the shrine should instead become a memorial to the
Iranian victims of the purported ancient holocaust perpetrated by the Jews. In response to these declarations, the
Simon Wiesenthal Center has asked UNESCO to intervene to protect this historic
shrine.
OFFICE: The synagogue office is checked regularly for mail and messages. The synagogue phone is 244-2060. For urgent issues, call Steve Teitel at 473-5741 or Stan Schaffer at 473-8072. You can also e-mail us at BHBI@frontiernet.net
WANT TO REMEMBER
OR HONOR SOMEONE OR A SPECIAL OCCASION?
Consider sponsoring a kiddush or making a donation to any one of our funds (General Operating, Kiddush, Library, Torah, Rabbi Aaron Solomon Scholarship, Our Youth, Special Events, Rabbi Fund or the Sam Malina Memorial Fund). Please indicate which fund you would like your donation to go to and we will send out an acknowledgement card as you indicate and print an announcement in this bulletin. A standard sponsored kiddush at BHBI costs just $40 while a larger enhanced kiddush is just $50.
BULLETIN CONTENT
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Congregation Beth Hamedresh-Beth Israel
1369 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14610