SHABBAT IN SOCHI

Dear Haverim:

*Friday, January 7, 2014, 6:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat Services (6 pm, Olympian Happy Hour). With Cantor Elisa and I both shaking off our respective flu viruses, we are in even greater need for your energy and ruach to help carry us through services tonight. My sermon topic: SHABBAT IN SOCHI. I’ve got the inside track on what your life would look like if you were a Shomer Shabbat Jew traveling to Sochi for the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics, and you might be very surprised when you find out what they’ve got planned. This is also FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY SHABBAT. If you have a birthday in February and would like a special blessing from the clergy, plus a rousing rendition of Yom Hooledet Sameach, please come and celebrate with us!

*Saturday, January 8, 2014, 9:30 a.m. MEN’S CLUB SHABBAT. By that title you might wrongly thing this Shabbat is just for Men. Ha Ha. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the Shabbat when the Men’s Club says, “ladies (and clergy) sit back and relax. We are going to lead the service. Feed you. Take care of you.” This is your Men’s Club saying, “You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to …to the CBS Men’s Club Shabbat.” You will be impressed to see what our men have cooked up both on and off the bima. And bravo to our ladies for an amazing Sisterhood Shabbat last week. I could get used to this! Please join us.

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

From PJ Library to Abortion: Running the Gamut

Dear Haverim:

·        Tomorrow night, Friday January 24

-5:45 pm  PJ Library: Music and Stories starring Delaware Rabbis, for 0-5 year olds (and their parents)-chapel. No need to attend services or Federation Shabbat to attend PJ Library program.

-8:00 pm Federation Shabbat Services (following 6:30 pm dinner for those with reservations)-sanctuary. We will feature Delaware Jewish community leadership as service leaders-sanctuary.  Oneg dessert to follow.  Guest speakers: Our own Dr. Henry and Lisa Dadone-Weiner.  Please come to services and serve as good hosts to our visitors from other shuls in Wilmington, as well as the Jewish communities in Newark, Dover and Rehoboth, who are all closing their Friday night services in order to celebrate Shabbat with us!

* Saturday, January 25, 9:30 a.m. Shabbat Services. (10:15 Torah service).  My drash will focus on Parshat Mishpatim: What Does the Torah say about ABORTION ?  We will examine Exodus 21:22 very carefully, and balance it against other issues, such as the First Amendment’s “anti-establishment” clause.  You might be surprised with what you learn.  I will hand out a learning packet for you to take home for future reference.

It’s cold outside.  Stay warm inside by attending Shabbat services at Congregation Beth Shalom!

B’yedidut,

Rabbi Michael

From Dr. King Celebration to JNF 2.0-Beyond Trees

Dear Haverim:

*Tomorrow, Friday, January 17, 5:30 p.m., Veggie-dairy potluck on a southern theme, in honor of Dr. King’s Birthday, Lower Level.

6:30 p.m., Dr. King Birthday Celebration Interfaith Shabbat Celebration, Sanctuary.  This is a family-friendly service with a featured interfaith presentation, fueled by kids (with a little adult assistance):

Across The Alley Staged Reading

Introduction: Rev. Dr. Clifford Johnson, Shiloh Baptist Church

Narrators: Ariella Beals and Christopher Jacob

Abe: Jonathan Jacob

Willie: Jonathan Walls

Grandpa: Fr. Joe Brennan, Christ Our King Catholic Church

Willie’s Dad: Rev. Grant Johnson, Peninsula McCabe UMC

Conclusion: Rev. Andy Jacob, Hanover Presbyterian Church

*Saturday, January 18, 9:30 a.m., Shabbat Services.  Featured speaker: Joel Friedlander, Regional Director, JNF.  Topic: JNF 2.0–Beyond Trees (a belated salute to Tu B’Shevat).

*Next Friday night, January 24, we will be hosting the entire Delaware Jewish Community for Federation Shabbat. 

PJ Library Shabbat, 5:45 p.m., for our zero-to-five crowd.

Community Dinner, 6 p.m. (reservations are due tomorrow, January 17 – call 302-654-4462).

Participatory Services/oneg, 8 p.m., open to all.

I hope CBS members will come out in large numbers, to serve as greeters to our wider community.

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

Burr B'not Mitzvah to Kosher Mamosa's

Dear Haverim,

     I have rushed off the ski slopes of Elk Mountain in the Poconos (where I only fell three times) in order to get back to Wilmington, DE in time to celebrate Shabbat with YOU! So why not come and join me?

* TONIGHT, December 27 6:30 pm, Kabbalat Shabbat. (Happy hour 6 pm).  Sermon topic: Ruchaniyut: Jewish Spirituality: The Pause That Refreshes.  We begin the celebration of Geri and Becky Burr’s bat mitzvah!

*TOMORROW, Saturday, December 28, 9:30 a.m. Shabbat services. Becky and Geri are our guest dashanot.  Their sermon topic: Parasha Vayera: CONSEQUENCES.  Following services, there will be a festive catered Shabbat lunch sponsored by the Burr’s to celebrate the twin’s b’not mitzvah.

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

PS  Note 9 a.m. for Shabbat services on January 1^st.  I plan on serving kosher mamosas!

Brews w/Jews to Shabbat in the Groove to Miriam: Live and in Person

Dear Haverim:

        I am dashing this off quickly with the hope of catching some of you, tonight, at our CBS’ Men’s Clubs monthly Brews with Jews at Stoney’s Pub on Concord Pike (being proudly Egalitarian, CBS Women are of course invited, too!)

* Tomorrow, Friday, December 20, 7:30 p.m. SHABBAT IN THE GROOVE. , Temple Beth El, 301 Possum Park Rd., Newark, DE

“MUSIC?”  Did I hear that you loved music?  Well this out-of-the-box musical service, hosted by Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein, Cantor Elisa and me is for YOU!! We are closing services down for the night at CBS and joining forces with our Reconstructionist friends to the South for a service you will not want to miss (they will reciprocate next month, along with the other DE synagogues for Federation Shabbat in January, by coming to us).

*Saturday, December 21.  9:30 a.m. Shabbat Services at CBS (10:15 a.m. Torah service).  Working with a professional story teller, I am bringing to you, from 3200 years in our past, Miriam, to tell her story, first-hand to you.  If you like Bibliodrama, please come.  If you do not like Bibliodrama, come anyways, and keep an open mind.  We will also celebrate the Babynaming of our Executive Director, Merrill Dorph’s new granddaughter, Hannah Mindel Dorph – as we say mazel tov to our new members, proud parents Josh and Kristin Dorph.

Looking ahead, keep in mind that on December 25^th we will have a later 9 a.m. Morning Minyan, as it is a Federal Holiday.

MUSSAR MOMENT

רוחניות

This week we celebrate the actions of the Egyptian midwives, Shifra and Puah, with the middah of EMPATHY.

Next week, in parashat Va’era, as God reveals the Name Y-H-V-H to Moses, we elevate the middah of Ruchaniyut, SPIRITUALITY, as we try to find ways of becoming more aware of  God in our daily lives.

THANKSGIVUKKAH & BEYOND!

Dear Haverim:

*Tonight, 6-7 p.m., Tuesday, November 26^th.  Did you want an out-of-the-box easy dinner option?  Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Dairy-Veggie Potluck at Peninsula McCabe United Methodist Church, 2200 Baynard Blvd. (park and enter through back).

*Tonight, 7-8 p.m., Tuesday, November 26^th. Interfaith Thanksgiving Musical Celebration, featuring CBS and other neighborhood choirs, plus opportunities to give to Family Promise and the Achievement Center, to address local homelessness and recidivism in Wilmington.

*Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 27^th. 

7:30 a.m. – Morning Minyan.

10:30 a.m. – Pauline LeBoritz graveside funeral and opportunity to make up a minyan for this congregant who left no immediate survivors.

Sundown – Light 1^st candle.

*Thursday, Thanksgivukkah, November 28^th

9 a.m. – Morning Minyan – note later time.

Sundown – Light 2^nd candle

*Friday, November 29^th

7:30 a.m. – Morning Minyan meets at CBS w/Torah reading.

Sundown – Light 3^rd candle and then Shabbat candles.

6:30 p.m. – Marv Cytron special darshan, featuring Krystallnacht Menorah 

*Shabbat, November 30^th

9:30 a.m. – Marv Cytron special darshan.

Sundown – Havdalah then light 4^th candle.

*Sunday, December 1^st

9 a.m. Morning Minyan (no Hebrew School)

Sundown – Light 5^th candle

*Monday, December 2^nd

7:30 a.m.  Morning Minyan

4:00 p.m. Join Cantor Elisa and CBS Hebrew School at Kutz Home for Chanukah Lighting and Sing-a-long with residents.

Happy Thanksivukkah and Chag Urim Sameach!

Rabbi Michael

From JFK to Playing Favorites

Dear Haverim:

     *Tomorrow night, Friday, November 22, 6:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat services (note earlier 5:30 p.m. catered Happy Hour in celebration of Ethan Cooper’s bar mitzvah – all are invited!).  Drash topic: JFK and the Jews – Looking Back On the 50^th Anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination.

November 22, 1963

“America wept tonight, not alone for is dead young president, but for itself.”

James Reston, N.Y. Times

                         

*Saturday, November 23, 9:30 a.m., Shabbat Services.  We celebrate Ethan Cooper’s Bar Mitzvah.  Ethan’s sermon topic: Parshat Vayeishev: Playing Favorites.  We thank the Covin-Cooper Family for sponsoring the Kiddsh lunch, to which the entire congregation is invited, following services.

*Tuesday, November 26, 6 p.m. Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration Veggie-Dairy Potluck Dinner, Peninsula McCabe United Methodist Church, 2200 Baynard Blvd., 7:30 p.m. Interfaith Thanksgiving Musical Celebration.  We will be raising funds for Family Promise and the new Achievement Center, addressing both Homelessness and Recidivism.

*Wednesday, November 27, sundown. Light first Chanukah candle.

*Thursday, November 28, note later 9 a.m. Thanksgivakkah Morning Minyan service start time.  Join us!

___________________

PS  Tomorrow morning, Friday, November 22, tune in to WHYY’s Radio Times for an interview with Israeli scholar, Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation. (I heard Halevi speak earlier today at the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia and give you a report at a future Friday night service.)