November 2008

Dear Chaverim Friends:

Our tenth joint Thanksgiving service with Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church (2020 Laskin Road) will take place this year at the church on Wednesday, November 26, at 7:30 p.m.

This tenth anniversary is a significant one for both religious communities, attesting to the interfaith bond whose longevity is testimony to a growing faithful friendship as well as a meaningful celebratory encounter.

It is no wonder that the great American holiday of Thanksgiving is the bridge between our two faith congregations. It is after all, modeled after our own Sukkot festival whose presence in the Hebrew Scriptures endears it also to our Christian friends. The Pilgrims who loved our Bible regarded themselves as walking in the footsteps of the Hebrews who fled tyranny, seeing freedom’s blessings under God’s safeguarding.

Giving thanks for the precious gift of life and all it represents, is truly at the heart of the Jewish relationship with God. Our friends, who from the very beginning have been most sensitive to our religious needs, have also learned what an Oneg means to us. They go out of their way to make us feel at home in their midst. Come and enjoy a special evening of shared spirituality and warm fellowship, as we affirm our common American roots and grand heritage!

Dr. Israel Zoberman

Chanukah is right around the corner and we are preparing the Gift Shop for all of your Chanukah needs!

The Gift Shop is open weekdays, Friday nights and Sunday mornings. Contact the office during the week for assistance. If you need something special or have any questions, please call Eleanor Lenox at 499-6012.

November 9th – Continued Torah Study

November 23rd – Jewish Wedding Traditions

Anyone is welcome! No previous knowledge is required!

Contact Ruth Cardiff for more information.

Greetings from the Ritual Committee

This month we are going to continue our new tradition of a Kabbalat service. On November 14th we will have our second Kabbalat Service. It will start at 6 and finish up around 6:30. Please join us for this joyous service full of song and even some dance.

After the Kabbalat we will have a pot luck dinner. It will be Dairy, meaning no meat, but fish, cheese, eggs, and veggies are permitted. Please bring a dish to share. Feel free to join the pot luck even if you don’t attend the Kabbalat service. You can always stay for the 8pm service afterward.

On the following morning, Saturday the 15th of November, we will have our next Torah Study service. The portion is Genesis 18-22. Come prepared to discuss and share your insights.

Finally, on Friday the 21st of November, we will have our second Youth Service. Rachel Hibberd will be organizing this service, so please contact her if you would like to participate. We hope to see you at our alternative services and at our pot luck dinner.

Upcoming Events:

November 23 - “A Time for Remembrance and Thanksgiving” – For November the Men’s Club meeting will be a trip on Sunday, November 23 to Portsmouth's Chevra T'helim Museum (607 Effingham Street, Portsmouth, VA 757-391-9266). There will be no other meeting of the Club for the month of November. The Museum tour will begin at 2:30 PM, allowing time for those who wish to grab a quick brunch prior. In 1917, four families, decided to found their own orthodox synagogue and call it Chevra T'helim which means "family of psalms." Dating from 1918, Chevra T'helim thrived for decades, with as many as 200 families at its height. Chevra T'helim became the centerpiece of a thriving first and second generation immigrant Jewish community. By 1985, the once vibrant congregation could barely sustain a minyan and its doors were closed. In 2002, the Friends of Chevra T'helim, Inc. stepped in to preserve this historic landmark, celebrating the opening of the Jewish Museum & Cultural Center in March 2008. The tour is open to all of the congregation and friends, we encourage carpooling. Please let a member of the Men's Club know if you will join us as we explore and give thanks together for our Hampton Roads Jewish History.

December 14 and 15 – “Suggestion and Planning Sessions” – In order to accommodate the busy and varied schedules of our Men, we will hold two different meetings to solicit your suggestions and discuss our 2009 Club program. We need your input and ask that the Men of the congregation attend of the following sessions:

Sunday, December 14, 9:30 - 10:30 AM

Monday, December 15, 7:30 - 8:30 PM

If you are unable to attend, please email and/or call in your suggestions to the Men's Club in care of Steve Goad (hsgoad@cox.net or 757-481-3057). Snacks are always welcomed to help with the discussions, so feel free to bring something along that could be shared at the meetings.

GET MORE INFORMATION

We have celebrated Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah, all with great success! As always, we were proud of the number of children who attended all of the services! A very special thanks to Jill Mitcham, David Yasemsky, Dianne Berger-Hill and Kara Molin for leading our High Holiday Youth Services this year. My son, David and I celebrated Yom Kippur in New Iberia, LA this year where my son, Sam, was the student rabbi. Congregation Gates of Prayer is a very small congregation housed in a beautiful little synagogue just a block from the bayou. What a thrill it was to hear Sam sing the most beautiful rendition of Kol Nidre I have ever heard. The people exuded “Southern Hospitality” with a Jewish touch and we felt very comfortable there! Their children’s service was held in the afternoon, before the Memorial Service, with four children present. A pre-break-the-fast was held in the social hall after Sam and David blew the shofars. Then there were BIG break-the-fast dinners at various members’ homes. We very much enjoyed the experience!

Our Religious School truly is a wonderful place to be on Sunday mornings! The smell of fresh brewed coffee fills the air and juice, bagels and cream cheese are all available for sale! As you may know, this is one of our fund raisers to help support our school activities, which in turn helps our temple budget. Please eat with your children on Sunday morning and support our fund raising efforts. The “Breakfast Crew” would like to thank our parent volunteers who have been a great help this year in supporting this endeavor.

We have 90 children who are registered and attending Religious School this year. If you are new to our congregation, please join us on Sunday mornings for coffee, bagels, and fellowship! Ask for a schedule of Adult Hebrew Classes, Basic Judaism Classes, the Rabbi’s Adult Growth Sessions, or other opportunities to volunteer and become involved.

In October, the children hand made beautiful yamulkes with a personal flair, shabbat boxes with everything inside needed to celebrate Shabbat, foamie decorations and wall hangings to adorn the walls of our Sukkah and some of the children made edible Sukkahs! Yum! Other children began an “Hineini” (Here I Am) Project which is a personal display board representing each child, not only as a Jew, but also depicting every other aspect of who they are.

On Simchat Torah we marched around the sanctuary singing, dancing and waving our flags behind our beloved Torahs. We welcomed 14 new children to the Religious School by honoring them during our Consecration service. Every new child present received a certificate and a miniature torah.

If you are new to the synagogue and have children pre-school age through 10th grade, it’s never too late to register them for Religious School! If your children are attending Religious School, and you have not completed the registration packet, please take time to do so.

Don’t forget to save your FARM FRESH receipts! Our Religious School earns points for every dollar you spend! The Farm Fresh receipt box is located on the small table by the sanctuary doors.

Stay tuned for our progress report next month! I would love to hear from you anytime. Always feel free to call me at 855-0906 or send me an e-mail at lrosieeee@aol.com.

Lora Rose

Please email John Clary at cbcwebmaster@gmail.com to make notification or comments regarding website related matters.

For Temple business or other inquiries by email, please continue to notify the Administrative office at admin@bethchaverim.com

After winning a record 74 consecutive games on the television game show Jeopardy, Ken Jennings of Murray, Utah, tithed $2.5 million in prize money to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons as well as Baptists and many people of their faiths, proudly tithe to their church. But we Jews, we don’t even talk about tithing except when a weekly Torah reading provokes a nostalgic discussion on the topic and we’re the poorer for it. Given the popularity among many faiths, it’s time for the Jewish community to stop disavowing our very own biblical method of gathering resources.

The tithe is a percentage payment, an assessment of a tenth of income or property, and back in ancient days tithing was common in Israel and neighboring nations.

Today Mormons generally tithe so do members of the Southern Baptist Convention. In a recent report, more than seven of 10 Baptist congregations self-described themselves as being in good-to-excellent financial shape. Why are so many so stable? Perhaps the tithe is the reason. More than 80% of Southern Baptist Convention congregations promote tithing. Only one-tenth of 1% sustains themselves through annual dues, as so many Jewish congregations do.

And therein lies a lesson: Churches that talk the tithe do not necessarily enforce it; but when tithe is part of a conversation about stewardship, donation patterns appear higher and church leaders are likely to self-report financial stability. So, what would happen if more synagogue leaders started talking about tithing? Giving to synagogues would likely double, with increased congregational financial stability and increased worship study and program outcomes.

What we need today in the synagogue world is a new approach to finances and newer ways to enable our congregation to encourage membership and develop standing programs. Too many synagogues are finding out – or will soon find out – that the current annual dues system is insufficient for meeting budgetary needs.

Synagogues need to start talking tithe – not as a threat or as a demand, but as a goal. Talking tithe increases the changes of a person giving accordingly, discussion of tithing alone can greatly increase membership support. It’s time we moved talk about tithing from the Torah portion to the board meeting.

Al Harris

Now that the holidays are over and Mommy and Daddy are rested, it is time to start thinking about Tot Shabbat for November.

We will be holding a very interesting Tot Shabbat service on November 8, at 11 a.m. During the craft time we will be making a “Havdallah House”, and talking about what the Havdallah service means. We will also be studying all the symbols of Havdallah and what they represent.

Please tell Mommy and Daddy you don’t want to miss this very important Tot Shabbat because you really want to make a “Havdallah House’, and learn more about your heritage.

November 2008

The High Holy days always make me feel inspired and rejuvenated for the New Year, but this year is different. This year I truly feel that I'm a part of the Beth Chaverim Family. What makes this year different than any other year? Every other year, I've quietly walked into the Temple for services, said a few quick hellos and then quietly walked out the door afterwards saying a few quick good-byes. This year however, I greeted all of my friends with a hug and a kiss, a L'Shana Tovah, or Happy New Year. Why is this year different? This year I'm greeting friends.

This has only been possible because of MY choice to become more active in the Temple. Just bringing my daughter for Religious School on Sundays wasn't enough. When I was approached about a new Sisterhood forming I was very excited. This was my chance to do what my mother had been doing for years in her Synagogue. Finally I would have a group of women to talk with and do things with, who had similar interests. A few months later I offered to be Co-President and so my journey began. We have had so much fun and done so many different things in Sisterhood in less than a year; and we have many more activities planned for the future.

For the first time this past year, I felt a responsibility to attend the Temple's Annual Meeting. What I didn't realize was how enlightened I would become about the status of OUR Congregation. How many members know how much the mortgage is for the new building? How many know that we even have to pay a mortgage, I didn't. We are responsible to pay over $17,000/month! That's a lot of money and it doesn't even include salaries, electricity or maintenance. What enables us to make this payment each month, BINGO. I know we all get tired of hearing about BINGO, but for the first time I really understood the importance it plays in all of our lives. Without BINGO, we wouldn't have a Sanctuary or a Religious School. Yes, we would still have each other, but wouldn't it be better to share each other's company under OUR roof and not at a church or community center? As I took my responsibility to the Temple more seriously I tried to figure out how I could help with BINGO. I'm allergic to smoke and have a hard time standing for long periods of time or even walking around because of my back problems. That's when Dianne and Robin said that they could work with me and there would be ways that I could help. I trusted them and they were right. There are places you can work that aren't bad and you really enjoy what you're doing and the friends you are making. These BINGO volunteers are simply fellow Congregants who feel a passion for Beth Chaverim and they give of their time on Thursday afternoons or evenings so that the rest of us can have a place to call OUR TEMPLE, A PLACE WHERE WE BELONG.

One night at BINGO Nancy suggested that I inquire about becoming a substitute teacher for the 8th grade Religious School class. I immediately said that I was interested not because I wanted to help out, but because I believe strongly that tweens and teens need to understand ALL the nuances of what it means to be Jewish and this was my opportunity to share things that I've learned along the way. Teaching our 8th graders was an amazing experience; and not only did they learn from me (I hope), but I learned a great deal from them and the course materials.

Some of you may ask, why don't we have Sisterhood meetings on Sundays during Religious School? The answer is that 85% of our officers are involved in teaching, volunteering, or taking Adult Hebrew classes etc.

My journey didn't stop there. Following our Sisterhood Shabbat in July, I was approached by Norm Schonbrich about becoming a member of the Choir. Wow! That was quite a compliment....I've always thought our Choir was fantastic and now I was going to be a part of it. Singing in the Choir has been such a wonderful and uplifting experience that I can't believe I didn't try it before. I feel closer to my faith now. The High Holidays held a deeper meaning for me, I believe for two reasons, 1) because I am involved and 2) because the music is so uplifting and I loved being able to share that with the Congregation.

Maybe you've noticed the common thread in my journey, it's SISTERHOOD. The Beth Chaverim Sisterhood has become a vibrant community that has opened doors for the women of our congregation to find new ways of interacting with each other. As I looked out over the congregation Rosh Hashanah morning, I was amazed at the number of people that I didn't know. I was saddened that I saw so many people in the Beth Chaverim Family that were not engaged in our community. Beth Chaverim is an active Temple, offering a variety of opportunities for Jewish fellowship and education. All it takes is for you to make the decision to get involved.

One way to get involved is to visit the Sisterhood during one of our meetings or programs. If we missed you at our Family Pot-luck Sukkah/Havdalah Celebration or the October meeting when we all got caught up talking about our favorite books, maybe you can make it to the Accessory Bazaar on November 9th from 10 – 2 (we're still accepting donations of scarves, hats, handbags, jewelry, etc....but no clothes please). I'd like to personally invite you to our November 24th meeting in the library at the Temple at 7:30. Take a break from your Thanksgiving cooking to see some friendly faces and make some new friends. We hope to see everyone there.

Shalom,

Karen Kendall
Co-president