From Shabbat Under the Stars to The Jazz Singer

Dear Haverim:

*TOMORROW NIGHT, Friday, August 29, 6:30 pm SHABBAT UNDER THE STARS, JCC Picnic Grounds (Garden of Eden Way, Talleyville),preceded by 5:30 pm candle-lighting, Kiddush, Motzi (we provide candles, grape juice and challah, YOU provide your own veggie/dairy Shabbat dinner).  Debbie Nachlis will join us on her 12-string guitar, and we will have a kid-powered sedra scene  skit in place of the drash.  This is our last outside Shabbat of the summer so please join us, and bring new friends.

*Saturday, August 30, back at Congregation Beth Shalom

8:45 a.m., Lay-led Torah study

9:30 a.m. Shabbat services.  Sermon topic: Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Labor Day Sermon.

*Sunday, August 31, 9 a.m. Morning Minyan – eagerly seeking a minyan!

*Monday, September 1^st, 9 a.m. NOTE special Labor Day late-morning start time.  Please come as Julia Frank dons tefillin for the first time and co-leads the service and chants Torah as part of her bat mitzvah preparation and celebration.

*Tuesday, September 2^nd, 8 p.m., TCM’s The Projected Image: The Jewish Experience on Film.  Tonight: The Jazz Singer (1927), The Jazz Singer (1953) @ 9:45 pm, Hester Street @11:45 pm, and Avalon @ 1:30 a.m..

ABOUT THE FILM SERIES:

TCM proudly presents The Projected Image: The Jewish Experience on Film, a weekly TUESDAY NIGHT showcase of movies focusing on Jewish history and heritage as portrayed on screen. An extension of TCM's popular Race and Hollywood franchise, this showcase features introductions by Dr. Eric Goldman, an expert on Yiddish, Israeli and Jewish film; and founder and president of Ergo Media, a video publishing company specializing in Jewish and Israeli video. Goldman is also the author of The American Jewish Story Through Cinema (2013) and Visions, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present (2011).

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Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

From Shabbat in London to Loads of Lifecycle Events or THIS SHABBAT IS SPONSORED BY THE LETTER "L"

Dear Haverim:

*TONIGHT, Friday, August 22, 6:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat (6 pm Happy Hour). We round out our Summer Travel Series with Shabbat in London. Kosher scones provided as we explore Jewish history of England, and make friends with Benjamin Disraeli, Gwenneth Paltrow, and speculate if the Kate and William’s boy might be the First Jewish King of England … or not.

*TOMORROW, Saturday, August 23

-8:45 am – Lay-Led Torah Study (NOTE NEW TIME!)* Last week's parshah taught us that "man does not live by bread alone." This week's parshah tells us what we can and cannot put on that bread. Let's compare that to Adam and Eve's permissible diet, and explore how conscious eating is a spiritual endeavor. *We've added 15 minutes to the session, so come at 8:45 a.m. if you can.

-9:30 am – SHABBAT SERVICES. Come celebrate Avery Steffan’s bar mitzvah. Sermon topic: FREE WILL! (I didn’t know Will was captured). Also celebrate Anna Scholl’s Adult Naming Ceremony, Anna and Joey Zahn’s aufruf, and Joey’s birthday – talking about loading up on your simchas!

Please join our community this Shabbat for multiple life cycle celebrations!

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

PS Next Friday night, SHABBAT UNDER THE STARS, JCC Picnic Grounds!!

From Drinking Ouzo to Obeying God

Dear Haverim:

*TOMORROW, August 15, 6:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat (6 p.m. Happy Hour).  SHABBAT IN GREECE.  Over kosher stuffed grape leaves and Ouzo 12, I will explore the Jewish history of Greece, with some amazing facts about Santorini, as we continue to explore where I went this summer, with a Jewish twist.

*SATURDAY, August 16, 9:30 a.m. Shabbat services.  D’var Torah topic: How Do Post-Modern Jews Cope with Divine Obedience?

Please consider attending our earlier 9 a.m. Lay Led Torah Study.  Questions: What is the nature of the relationship between us and God? Is there something more to offer in this week’s Haftarah? Is there a relationship between faith and unconditional love?

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

From Shabbat in Paris 2 to Shema & Listening Better

Dear Haverim:

*TODAY, Friday, August 8, 8 p.m., SHABBAT IN PARIS 2.

 Come join us as we continue our soiree celebrating French Jewish history, beginning in 1806, with Napoleon’s establishment of the Second Sanhedrin, through Alfred Dreyfus, and France’s first Jewish Prime Minister, Leon Blum, who served both before and after WW2, and was interned in a Concentration Camp between terms. Meet Chagall, Soutine, and Modigliani, all were important Jewish artists in France in the early 20^th century, plus the famous French Jewish actress Sarah Bernhardt. I will share photos from our most recent family trip, including a lovely afternoon in Le Marais, Paris’ Jewish neighborhood. Enjoy kosher French cuisine and wine during the oneg.  Also meet our two Noa’s, serving as shelichot for the JCC over the summer, and learn how YOU can become a host family for JCC’s Israeli shelichim next year.

*TOMORROW, Saturday, August 9, 9:30 a.m. SHABBAT SERVICES. Parshat V’etchanan, features TWO giants in Jewish liturgy: The Ten Commandments  and The Shema.  This week’s sermon is titled, Shema! What Does it Take to REALLY Listen?

Please plan on spending this Shabbat with us at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Merci !

Rabbi Michael

TISHA B'AV 9:30 pm TONIGHT & 9 AM TOMORROW @ CBS

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9:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Monday, August 4^th, please join us in the Congregation Beth Shalom Chapel for TISHA B’AV.

You will be greeted by candlelight, an empty ark, as we set the tone with the hauntingly beautiful elegiac trope from The Book of Lamentations, Eicha, – the Prophet Jeremiah’s eye-witness account of the Destruction of Jerusalem, in 586 BCE.

In keeping with the tradition of other tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people throughout history on the Ninth of Av, I will share my most recent visit to Clifford’s Tower – The Masada of the North – in York, which was the prelude to the Jews’ Expulsion from England on Tisha B’Av 1290.

9:00 a.m., TOMORROW, Tuesday, August 5^th, TISHA B’AV services continue during Morning Minyan, scheduled for this special later time.

IF YOU ARE IN TOWN, PLEASE JOIN FOR THESE TWO SERVICES

and have a tsom kal – an easy fast

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