Chai Lines
International Northeast Region
Women's League
for Conservative Judaism
Networking to Engage, Enrich and Empower
Conservative Jewish Women
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December 28, 2017 Volume 2, Issue 68
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IN THIS ISSUE
Click on name of article to go to that article.
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SAVE THE DATE FOR SPRING CONFERENCE 2018
INR SPRING CONFERENCE
"PORTRAIT OF SISTERHOOD"
WHEN: April 29 and 30, 2018
WHERE: Temple Beth El, Rochester, New York
WHO: All Sisterhood Members from IN Region
WHY: Time to Meet and Learn from Each Other
THIS NOTICE COMES TO YOU FROM YOUR LOYAL CO-CHAIRS:
Marcia Nabut and Ruth Shapiro
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FROM THE REGION PRESIDENT
Happy Civil New Year
Shabbat Shalom,
Eleanor
514-458-6204
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FROM THE REGION EDUCATION VP, LOIS SILVERMAN
We Jews have not ONE New Year celebration but at least FIVE, not counting fiscal new years which are different for different entities.
We have the Civil New Year on January 1. It is the a time of calendar change, secular celebrations, and, for some, resolutions to change one's life for the better.
And there are:
1 Tishrei
Serves as the New Year for several purposes, the best known being the New Year for the Jewish civil calendar, or "the new year for seasons."
Rosh Hashanah literally means "the head of the year."
Jewish years are traditionally counted, with the New Year beginning on 1
Tishrei. Although
Rosh Hashanah is not a well-defined holiday in the Torah, distinguished mostly as "a day when the horn is sounded" (Numbers 29:1), later its religious connotations were expanded to make it the Jewish New Year and the anniversary of creation.
15 Shevat
The New Year for trees. Most Jewish sources consider 15
Shevat as the New Year both for designating fruits as
orlah (that is, forbidden to eat, because they have grown during the first three years after a tree's planting) and for separating fruits for tithing. This date was selected "because most of the winter rains are over," the sap has begun to rise, and the fruit has started to ripen. Fruits that have just begun to ripen--from the blossoming stage up to one-third of full growth--are attributed to the previous year, whereas fruits that are more mature on 15
Shevat apply to the upcoming year. As with vegetables and grains, fruits that budded during one "fiscal year" could not be used as tithes on those that budded in another year.
The 15th of Shevat has become a minor holiday,
Tu Bishevat when it is customary to eat a fruit from the new season for the first time--particularly one typical of the Land of Israel; it is also customary to say the
Shehecheyanu blessing. In Ashkenazi communities in Europe, it was a custom to eat 15 different kinds of fruits. In the 16th century the mystics of Sephardic Safed expanded the
Tu Bishevat observance with a seder that uses the symbolism of fruit with and without shells to enact the process of opening up to God's holiness. In modern Israel,
Tu Bishevat has come to symbolize the redemption of the land and the awakening of environmental awareness through the planting of trees.
1 Nisan
Corresponds to the season of the redemption from Egypt and the birth of the Israelite nation. The Torah's command that "this month [Nisan] is for you the beginning of the months, it shall be the first month of the year to you" tied all counting of Jewish religious festivals to the Exodus from Egypt, and this special religious counting system distinguished Israel from other nations.
1 Elul
the New Year for the tithing of cattle. The tithe for cattle had to be made from cattle born in the same fiscal year, between 1 Elul one year and the next.
Shabbat Shalom
Happy Hanukkah
LOIS
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FROM WOMEN'S LEAGUE FOR CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
Networking to engage,
enrich and empower
Conservative Jewish women
$100 for 100 Years...Continue the Legacy
2018 - the culmination of our first 100 years - promises to be a huge year! In looking ahead to our many centennial celebrations, we invite you to join us in ensuring the future of Women's League for Conservative Judaism:
$100 for 100 Years.
We invite all members and Sisterhoods to support the next 100 years of Women's League by contributing a minimum of $100 to the $100 for 100 Years Campaign. Donors will receive a Women's League kippah as a thank you gift.
With your participation, Women's League will continue to provide innovative programs, personalized leadership development, direct sisterhood support, and accessible resources to benefit all members of our dynamic network.
All donations can be sent to:
Women's League
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 820
New York, NY 10115
Donate:
online at bit.ly/support-wl,
by sending a check to the Women's League office,
or by calling Razel Kessler at 212.870.1260, ext. 1263, and providing your credit card information over the phone.
We thank you in advance for your generosity!
Women's League Reads
WL Reads' new featured book is
The Weight of Ink, and an Interview with
author Rachel Kadish is planned for
Monday, February 26, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. EDT. WL Reads members may listen to the live Interview by phone or by Weblink (to be posted).
By popular request, we are giving WL Reads members more time between announcement and interview dates, especially because it's a long book. The historical novel has received rave reviews for its stellar prose and portrayal of two intellectual women, one a Jewish history scholar from our time, and one a scribe and self-educated Sephardic Jew in 17th-century London. Each woman, with poise and passion, must face soul-piercing internal conflicts and external enemies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
RACHEL KADISH is the award-winning author of the novels
From a Sealed Room and
Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, and the novella "I Was Here." Her work has appeared on NPR and in the New York
Times online.
To become a WL Reads member, write to Lois Silverman, WLCJ Internet Services Chair, at [email protected] with your Sisterhood's name and town, and your name and e-mail address.
Distance Workshops
The next free Women's League Distance Workshop is on Wednesday, January 10, at 8:30 p.m., Eastern Time:
"Zoom Call with WLCJ President Margie Miller."
This call is open only to sisterhoods with membership over 100 members and limited to the first 20 to register. Register
here.
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How you can help.
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FROM THE TORAH FUND VICE PRESIDENT
MARILYN COHEN
After completing her studies at the Zacharias Frankel Rabbinical College in Potsdam, Germany, Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin received her ordination on June 18, 2017. If you have the time, give yourself a spiritually uplifting gift and watch this video. Remember, your Torah Fund donations support the Rabbinical students at the Zacharias Frankel College as well as the other four Conservative seminaries around the world.
A first-hand account of the celebration by Josh Weiner:
Something special happened up on the stage last Sunday in the Jewish community centre in Berlin. Nine rabbis stood there in front of a woman, said words, and ten rabbis walked off the stage. Something magical happened, that nobody could ignore. That magical shift, the creation of a new rabbi in Berlin, rippled out through the audience, and nobody could doubt the significance of what had just taken place. The various speakers, rabbis and community leaders from around the world, remarked on different aspects of the magic: the first Masorti rabbi ordained in Europe since the Shoah, the first graduate of the new Zacharias Frankel College, the successful product of shared optimism between the German state, the global Conservative/Masorti movement, and Nitzan herself.
The ripples moved backwards and forwards in time. The whole weekend leading up to the ordination was busy and excited. Rabbis Brad Artson and Cheryl Peretz gave classes at the college, colleagues from around the world met and exchanged ideas and experiences, jetlagged Brazilians and Californians bumped into each other on the streets of Berlin, current students at the college taught friends and guests, people switched between English, American, Hebrew, German and Spanish mid-sentence. The beautiful synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse has witnessed many landmark events in the last century, some painful, some happy. But rarely has there been as much positive energy and excitement at the Shabbat services as there was this week, and the excitement spilled over to the delicious and loud Shabbat meals we shared there.
What's next? Of course, Rabbi Nitzan will continue her path, creating and strengthening Jewish life in whatever community she finds herself in. Just as exciting are the effects of the ordination weekend on others. For current students, it gave a clearer vision of what the end-point actually looks like, and strengthened our motivation to reach it. Other young visitors started asking about the school, and hopefully many of the rabbinical guests will go back to their communities and suggest studying in Berlin to crazy congregants itching to become rabbis themselves. For Berliners, and especially open-minded traditional Jews in the city, the ordination was a moment of pride and inspiration that they will continue to hold for a long time to come. Yeshar koach to everyone involved!
Contact me with any questions:
Marilyn Cohen
VP Torah Fund - International Northeast Region
416-5
18-1860
Check out the New Torah Fund Guide and all the other materials to run a great campaign!
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FROM ACROSS THE REGION
TORAH FUND PROGRAMS TO KVELL AND SHARE
The Best Torah Fund Programs in Our Region
This space is being reserved for Torah Fund programs that have worked for YOUR sisterhood. Please send Lois Silverman at
[email protected] a summary of what you have done to support Torah Fund. It just might inspire other sisterhoods to do similar events.
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NEED HELP?
HELP IS AVAILABLE ON THE WLCJ WEBSITE.
Programs, membership ideas, education material, and more available at wlcj.org
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