Shabbat Blast

Shabbat Blast!!!

Erev Shabbat – November 24, 2016

Candle Lighting: 4:11 pm

Maariv: 8:00

Shabbat, November 25, 2016

Parshat Chayei Sara

Nosh and Drash 9:00

Services 9:30 am

Fran Firouzan and Sheila Baskoff are requesting a Minyan for Saturday night 11/26/16 at 5:30pm.  It is yahrzeit for their father Rubin Goldmark.

Dear [first_name],

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day was as wonderful as mine. I visited my grandmother, who turned ninety-three last week (she should live to be one hundred and twenty years old). We somehow crammed fourteen family members, spanning four generations, into her little eat-in kitchen. Everyone wanted to contribute something to the meal, so of course we ended up with a week’s worth of food.

It feels very strange to celebrate a holiday together as a family, that doesn’t involve going to synagogue services (a big thank you to Joe Weisbord for covering Torah reading on Thursday morning, so that I could travel to be with my family!). It feels even stranger that the main celebratory meal happens towards the end of the holiday, on Thursday afternoon. 

It’s important to me to spend time with family, whether we’re teasing each other and making jokes, or asking Granny to retell the story of the first time she ate turkey. As a teenager, she was working in a factory, and they gave the workers a turkey each to take home for the holidays. Her parents had never seen such a large bird, but they were very happy to have such a nice gift.

Thanksgiving, of course, is not just a day when we express gratitude for the plentitude of family and food. It is also a day when, as Jews, we should think about our relationship to the indigenous people of this land. 

Modim Anahnu Lakh, We thank you: We are all of us immigrants or descendants of immigrants. How many of us have stories about the relative who came over first, who made it through Ellis Island, who against all odds saved up money working in a sweatshop to send back to the family in Europe, to help them buy a tickets to come here. The kindly landsman or neighbor, who had been in New York for longer, and helped the immigrants adjust to life here. We can try to identify with what those early European pilgrims might have experienced coming here, and we shouldn’t shy away from teaching the complexity of those immigrants’ relationship with the indigenous Native Americans. 

Modim Anahnu Lakh, We thank you: Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to remember that Native American communities still live among us, and are among the most needy communities. Modim Anahnu Lakh, We thank you: For Thanksgiving this year, I donated to the Native American Rights Fund, a charitable organization that helps indigenous people advocate to preserve their traditional ways of life, their culture, their heritage, their land. I encourage you to take a moment before Shabbat to think about how you personally might connect with indigenous peoples, and how our local Jewish community could better support those in need, indigenous or otherwise.

CLICK HERE to listen to Modim Anahnu Lakh 

Composed by Robbie Solomon

Recorded by Cantor Sarah Myerson, voice and piano

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom, a Sabbath of Peace,

Cantor Myerson

December 2 Grandparent and Special Friends Shabbat – Calling all grandparents and special friends! Join us for a lovely Kabbalat Shabbat at 6:30 followed by dinner and discussion at 7. All parents, grandparents, special friends, and family are welcome. Under 3 Free, Ages 3-13 $10 each, Adults $18 each.  Click here for the Flyer.  Click here to register on line.

The New And Improved Junior Congregation! Join us for our next great Junior Congregation on December 10, 10AM in the Muraskin Room. There will be learning, there will be noshing.  Our talented Educators will be explaining the Saturday Morning Service, discuss the prayers in depth and how they pertain to each of us, and of course, bagels.  Parents are welcome (Encouraged) to come to the Sanctuary during this time.  Stay for a lovely kiddush with the entire congregation.  Click here for a printable flyer with the dates.  

December 12, Night of Jewish Learning - Join us for an evening of music, featuring songs about women: love songs, lullabies, songs about life and songs of protest. This presentation will be both educational and fun. Open to all, no previous knowledge is required. Doors open: 7:00 PM.  Program Begins 7:30 PM SHARP.  East Meadow Jewish Center  1400 Prospect Avenue East Meadow New York 11554.

December 13, Latkes, Chatchkes, and Vodkas – Please join us at 7PM or this exciting Sisterhood event! We’ll have an assortment of latkes and vokdas and everyone will make a craft! $18. RSVP to Lori Blitzer at lblitzer@kurthahnschool.org or call or text (917) 929-5905

Rabbi's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class! Every MONDAY at 6pm, join the Rabbi for an informative class to learn all about the Torah/Haftorah Service, the prayers and tunes associated with it, and the history of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service.  This is geared toward those who do not have any background in the Torah Service.  Flyer is available here.

From Andrew Kessler: As part of my mitzvah project, I am collecting new unwrapped toys that will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House. This will give the children of the Ronald McDonald House an opportunity to play with a new toy during the holiday season. Thank you for helping make my mitzvah project a success! Andrew Kessler. Any questions you can email me at Kessler1107@gmail.com