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A joyous community of Jewish women engaged in prayer,
study, and spiritual growth
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Our next service will be Saturday, October 7.
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It is harvest time in the Jewish calendar, and our October service falls on the third day of the Sukkot celebration. The High Holidays have passed, and the cool autumn days are coming. After our fabulous service last month with Jewish Women’s Theatre, we move into the "harvest" – the results of all our hard work! We look forward to being with new friends and sharing time with members we have known over the years.
Chag Sameach! Join us as we celebrate Sukkot together! A time of joy and gladness, of health and happiness and love.
Breakfast begins at 8:15 with a 45 minute teaching by Rabbi August on
“Is there More to Life than Being Happy?”
– a conversation on the thoughts of
Kohelet/Ecclesiastes
– the Biblical text assigned by the rabbis to the holiday of Sukkot. Join our inspiring conversation and share your thoughts. Our breakfast is sponsored by Art Peyser in memory of his wife, Bobbi Peyser.
Services begin promptly at 9:30 am, led by Rabbi August and Cantorial Soloist Cindy Paley. Be sure and stay for our delicious Kiddish luncheon immediately following services, sponsored by Lynda Malerstein in celebration of her 75th birthday and Lynn Beliak in honor of the birthdays of grandson, Lev; husband, Haim; and son, Hanan.
To accommodate guests with allergies, please refrain from wearing scents.
Sponsors are needed for the November - June Kiddushim and for our four annual breakfasts. Please contact the catering chairperson, Lynn Beliak, at
catering@leveisha.org
. You may pick up envelopes and catering forms on the tables in the social hall or you can find them on the table when you enter the synagogue. We look forward to sharing your simchas at Lev Eisha.
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Annual Women's Weekend Retreat
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Grab your 2018 calendar and save the date: January 26-28, 2018
Our Annual Women's Weekend Retreat: New Experiences/New Paths
This unique weekend will introduce us to a meditative walk and includes a Tu B'shevat Seder led by Rabbi August.
Limited space at a new Encino venue.
Watch for details and registration soon.
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Our Membership Is Growing!
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Our membership continues to grow - we are so pleased to welcome back the following new and renewing members who have joined us this month:
Sharon Alexander
Janis Biederman
Shirley Belinfante
Ruth Belonsky
Cecile Benson
Judy Blake
Carolyn Burns
Barbara & Melvin Cohen
Muriel Dance
Judy Fishman
Linda Fleischman
Janice Ruben Friedland
Leslie Geffen
Wendy Green
Ruth Grossman
Phyllis Henkin
Doreen Klee
Beth Koonan
Shayna Lester
Janet Madden
Lynda Malerstein
Sheryl Melendez
Cathy Novak
Gerry Owen
Linda Owen
Irene Perer
Meryl Posner
Ellen Satkin
Ellen Sternfeld
Susie Yuré
Linda Zweig
If you haven't renewed your membership for our Chai year, there are 3 ways you can join us: 1) yisit the website,
leveisha.org and join online; 2) return the membership application that was mailed to you this summer; or 3) pick up an application on either our membership table or on the kiddush tables at the October service.
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Thank you to the following generous donors:
- Cecile Benson - "Mazel Tov to Arthur Douglas Mackey on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah."
- Mel and Barbara Cohen - "in honor of our children and grandchildren"
- Linda Fleischman
- Irene Perer
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Who Will be Our 100th Member?
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We are getting close to 100 members - who will win the prize? Again this year we are offering a special gift and Rabbi August will give
our 100th member
an honor at a Lev Eisha service,
And what a deal - for $9/month you get 10 delicious kiddush lunches, 5 breakfasts during the year, compelling teachings by Rabbi August, inspiring music by Cindy Paley, and more! If you haven't joined yet, now is a good time. Click
HERE
to join!
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The Mystery of “JOY” on Sukkot
I have wondered about the difference between our secular and Jewish new year holiday celebration.
My Hevruata, study partner, Rabbi Naomi Levy, once lamented, “We just don’t know how to have fun!” For Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, she observed, we hit our breasts and confess sins, in contrast to drinking and having a great party, letting loose and letting go! I wondered about that and actually
totally disagree with her
. My reasoning involves the joy of the Sukkot holiday.
I have been to some great New Year Eve parties. It is delightful knowing you have friends and somewhere to go where people are happy to see you! You eat, tell jokes, listen to music, dance and feel good. This is lovely and then you count down, watch the ball and it is all over. Exhausted, you go home, hoping you do not have a hangover the next day. Of course many of these late night parties were years ago….
Our Jewish New Year is a much different process, with a
unique goal
of contemplation, inwardness and quieting our egos. We carved out a sacred time to examine our existence. Are we
growing
or standing still, content with the status quo? Are we expanding our hearts and minds, or are we just trying to survive?
The ten days were a time to wonder if we could love more, fear less, reduce anger, increase compassion, and find ways to be less judgmental, more hopeful and open to new possibilities.
So, did it work for you? Hopefully a little bit, and now you are ready for Sukkot. After all our soul searching and heart shifting we are ready to sit in our Sukkah and
gaze out
at the stars. Sitting outdoors and dreaming about our future is the next step after the High Holidays.
And we party! We have guests, eat good food, laugh and tell stories and enjoy all our senses. The Sukkah is a visual treat, an olfactory delight, and shaking the lulav and etrog is a tactile experience.
The word
Sukkah
means fragile dwelling, but is also a verb that means “to vision” – to look hopefully and with a full heart at your future and all the possibilities for adventure, new experiences, more meaningful work and deeper relationships.
Find yourself a Sukkah and have a blast! Use this holy time, the holiday of Sukkot, for continued personal development. Find the opportunity to reflect on what you accomplished over the
Yontif
holidays and rededicate yourself to renewal and change. “It is a great Mitzvah to be happy!”
Chag Sameach! A meaningful and joyful holiday to us all!
Rabbi Toba August
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As you know, we are now offering an opportunity to enjoy listening to Rabbi August's teachings on our website! It's a wonderful way to revisit Rabbi's sermons - or hear them for the first time if you missed our Lev Eisha service.
Click
HERE
to listen to Rabbi's sermons. Her inspiring words from our Sept. service will be posted very soon.
If you would like to see this new program expanded so each of Rabbi's sermons can be enjoyed by others, please consider making a donation of $100 to Lev Eisha. This is the cost for us to record and post the sermons. Donors will be acknowledged on our Lev Eisha website as well as in our monthly seat flyer and Newsletter.
Please help Lev Eisha reach out to our community! Online donations can be made
HERE
, or you can mail your check to Lev Eisha,
10736 Jefferson Blvd # 706, Culver City, CA 90230
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2017-2018 Board of Directors
Co-Presidents: Janis Cohen & Barbara Brown
Treasurer: Ruth Grossman
Secretary: Wendy Aleman
Membership: Robin Winston
Catering: Lynn Beliak
Ritual: Judy Fishman
Hospitality: Joan Spiegel
Newsletter: Rose Ziff
Outreach: Gail Heim
Women's Retreat: Linda Zweig
Past President: Susie Yuré
Advisory Council
Rachelle Neshkes
Holly Zucker
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to the following friends who are celebrating October birthdays:
Susan Batel, Judy Fishman, Jackie Goldfield, Debbie Heisman, Lynda Malerstein, Laurie Samson
Do you have an October birthday and we didn't acknowledge it? Please send us your birth month and we will be glad to wish you a Happy Birthday!
Birthdays, weddings, graduations, Bat or Bar Mitzvot, births, special awards/honors, and exotic vacations are some of the simchas that are fun to share with our community.
This is also the place to ask our community to join you in prayers of healing for those who are ill or in memory of those who have passed away.
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Lev Eisha Shabbat Services are held at Beth Shir Shalom
1827 California Ave. Santa Monica, 90403
Directions:
To Beth Shir Shalom
Take the 405 Fwy North or South to the 10 Fwy Westbound.
Exit the 10 Fwy at Cloverfield/26th Street
Turn right onto Cloverfield.
Turn left at Colorado.
Turn right onto 20th Street. Continue straight, past Wilshire, one block, to California.
Turn left onto California Avenue. Go 1-1/2 blocks. Beth Shir Shalom will be on the right.
To parking lot
Follow above directions to get to 20th Street and turn right.
Turn right at Wilshire.
Parking lot will be on the right behind the V Lounge, across the street from the Veggie Grill. (See map below)
LOOK FOR THE PURPLE BALLOONS!
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