Temple B'nai Israel, Albany, GA

A weekly update of information and events…

Friday, January 27, 2012 (3 Shevat)

8:00 p.m. MLK Shabbat Service

Student Rabbi Kelly Levy

Thank you to Board Member Paul Smith

Thank you for the Oneg to Barbi Fisher & Ted Fralick, Michelle & Michael Tilson

Please call the office in the event of a birth, death, injury, illness or hospitalization. If you wish to share any special occasion, let us know at 446-6536. Thank you!

PLANNING AHEAD:

1. Sisterhood Meeting - February 1, 6:30 p.m.

2. Religious School First Sunday, Judaica Shop Open - February 5, 9-11 a.m.

3. Tu B'Shevat Pot Luck Dinner - February 11, 6:30 p.m.

4. Religious School Planting Ceremony - February 12, 9:00 a.m.

5. No Religious School - President's Day - February 19

6. Seniors Brunch - February 19, 11:00 a.m.

7. Temple Board Meeting - February 22, 7:00 p.m.

Student Rabbi Kelly's Schedule*: Feb. 10 & 24, Mar 9 & 23, Apr. 6 & 20, May 4 & 18

*Subject to change depending upon the weather and flight schedules

SERVICE LEADERS, BOARD MEMBERS, ONEG ASSIGNMENTS:

February 3: Edie Cohen, David Prisant. Vivian & David Stern and Kim & Stuart Goldsmith.

February 10: Student Rabbi Kelly, Gail Greenfield. Virginia & Lan Skalla, Jayne Massaro.

CARING COMMITTEE MEMBERS

January: Linda Prisant, Judy Landau, Vivian Stern

February: Debbie Mulford, Mandy Downs, Lorraine Fink, Edie Cohen

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS

January 27 - Abigail Ungarino

January 28 - Brooke Tilson

January 30 - Edie Cohen

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS

February 5 - Lindsay Stern, Ethan Bruck

February 7 - Howie Largeman

February 9 - Jeremy Harrell

February 11 - Peggy Kobley

February 13 - Carl Sagasser

February 16 - Gerry Alverson

February 20 - Janie Bitterman, Linda Prisant

February 24 - Doris Lorig

JUDAICA SHOP NEWS

The Judaica Shop is the place to go whenever you need a special gift. I will be happy to meet you at the Temple any time or you may come during Religious School between 9 and 11 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month. We will be there February 5th. You may be surprised at the large selection of beautiful and whimsical items. We have the best prices in town!

Cypora, Judaica Shop Coordinator, 435-2071

If you would like to advertise your business in the Hadashot, please call 446-6536 or e-mail temple@tbialbany.org to sign up. For only $60 per year ($5.00/month) everyone will know to do business with people they know and trust. This is true value advertising!

YAHRZEITS

January 22nd - January 28th, 2012

Nettie Halpern

Solomon Silver

RosaLee B. Feldman

Murray Sokol

Charles B. Lesser

Mollie Geiger

Sigmund Sterne

Edwin Farkas

Sally Rosenberg

Arthur S. Cohen

Arthur Greenfield

A.J. Brumberg

Sam Berkman

Rae Kieve McCorkle

The Gift of the Shabbat Table

by Evelyne Klein When our (fabulous) Membership Director asked if I would host a Shabbat dinner at our house, as a way to have long-standing members meet new members, I thought: What a terrific idea!! There were so many new members we did not know, and members we saw at temple events only. What better way to bring old and new together, get to know other members better, than around the Shabbat dinner table? I was amazed at the synergies between the old and new members who came: the conversation flowed around the table, with everyone introducing themselves, and topics ranging from the impact of Hillel on college students to training for boards, to activities for disabled youngsters and numerous other topics, both personal and otherwise. The conversation was lively and vigorous the entire evening. When our kids were young, my father would insist we come for Shabbat dinner on [...]

Do We Have The Courage for a Real Tikkun For Our Teens?

by Craig Parks I am a very rare breed in the Reform Movement. Out of over 900 congregations I am one of the very few full time Directors of Youth Programming that has been in my job over ten years. I have now spoken at my third national Biennial in a row and do so with great fervor. When those attendees come to my presentations and hear about the 60 -70 kids coming to our Teen Shabbat Jam 2 hour Friday night service once a month or our well over 100 9-12 graders participating in our programs such as the social action youth group Tikkun Project, or the summer camp that brings in gobs of kids and teens who work on staff I sometimes have to reach for napkins to wipe the drool off the faces. I can’t even tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “Can [...]

The Torah In Haiku: Bo

The Obama’s dog? No, it’s not that “Bo” my friend We’re talking Torah! In this week’s portion Pesach observance described A law for all time Kids are gonna ask What’s this seder mean to you? You must answer them Exodus 12:26-27 Your children may ask you, ‘What is this service to you?’ You must answer, ‘It is the Passover service to God. He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, sparing our homes.’

Why I Love Being a Reform Jew

by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp In my first installment in this series, I spoke about the merger discussions between our congregation and the Tri City Jewish Center. At that time I stated that since I addressed institutional reasons for why the resulting congregation should affiliate with the Reform movement in my answers to the Merger Task Force’s questionnaire, therefore in this series I would restrict the focus of these articles to personal ideological reasons for my love of and commitment to Reform Judaism. However, as I now conclude this series, I wish to remove that self-imposed restriction and revisit why I feel so strongly about our congregation’s connection to the institutions and organizations of Reform Judaism. While ideology, practice, culture, all are important, they do not exist in a vacuum. They do not spring up overnight, born of thin air. Rather they are the product of like-minded people coming together [...]