Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island E-Letter
October 2, 2020
14 Tishri 5781
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SUCCOTH IS HERE!
The first night of Succoth is this Fridsy evening. Unfortunately we will not be putting up the Sukkah that the Zemble-Rosenzweig Family donated last year. Rabbi Jay and Sheri are inviting you - VIRTUALLY - to their sukkah for Holiday services. This is a great opportunity to create your own sukkah. Find a space, decorate it with pictures and fruits, eat some meals there. WHAT FUN.
PLEASE SEND US PICTURES OF YOUR SUKKAH THAT WE CAN POST IN NEXT WEEK'S SHABBAT REMINDER.
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Rabbi Jay and Sammie's BF Reid are wondering what to do next. |
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SIMCHAT TORAH CANNOT BE FAR BEHIND |
It is customary in some synagogues to honor a man and a woman on Simchat Torah, This year we would like to honor a "kallat (bride) and a "chatan" (groom) at Simchat Torah Morning Services. Please consider nominating a member of our synagogue who has done extraordinary deeds in the community during the Pandemic. If you have their permission, please respond to this email by next Wednesday.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI....
What an extraordinary Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it was. Many, many thanks to all of you who joined us and made the holidays very special. Look for a Brachas from the Beach with a message about this year’s services.
The liturgy, the Torah readings, and the music of the holidays all are designed to cause us to question who we are, what we are doing, and what the year to come has in store for us. This is one reason that the next holiday, Sukkoth, finds us eating (or living) in a temporary dwelling for 7 days. We are residing in the uncertainty that was created by the High Holy Days.
Because the pandemic has caused the JCC not to set up its Sukkah this year, I urge you to join us on Zoom for Sukkoth services on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10:00 am, which will be held in the Sukkah that Sheri and I set up at our home. If you cannot build your own Sukkah, I urge you to make an effort to spend time outside. While outside, and in a safe spot, close your eyes and listen the sounds around you. Breath in the scent of fall. Feel the wind. For a review of Sukkah customs, click here: SUKKAH GUIDE Pay close attention to the custom of Usphizin, welcoming guests, ancient and modern, to our sukkahs.
Enjoy my own Sukkah poem.
Life is like a Sukkah.
Temporary; fleeting; and, yet, somehow ever-present
7 days for Sukkoth, a permanent, set time.
Is the time of every soul established and permanent?
A Sukkah is like life.
Canvas blowing in the wind; the sky our ever changing szchach.
Pieces of our lives as ornamentation; artwork hanging by string.
We are visitors in God's universe, God's Sukkah.
God is like an Etrog.
Beautiful; There for us to see and hold and smell;
Yet, amorphous just the same.
Nourishment? Adornment? Or something just to please the senses?
Man is like a lulav.
Multi-faceted; with a strength like the date palm.
And a presence like the pleasant scent of hadas
Yet weak like the leaves of the willow that wither quickly when out of water.
And somehow, just as the etrog is incomplete without the Lulav,
God is incomplete without Man;
Man is unfinished without God.
Each needs to hold the other gently, acknowledging existence together...East, South, West, North, to the Heavens, to the Earth.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sukkoth Sameach - Rabbi Michael S. Jay
nd compelling headline
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My personal takeaways from this year’s High Holidays….
Monday night as we began the Neilah service, Rudy and I sat on our couch watching the service coming to a conclusion. Rabbi mentioned that the “gate is closing”. Looking out our window with the blinds still open, there was a golden glow on the houses and then gently the skies lost their light as we approached the blowing of the shofar. Having always been inside the synagogue for the conclusion of Yom Kippur, I never experienced this…or maybe this was a once in a lifetime blessing.
In Rabbi’s Yiskor speech, he said that we often do not tell the special people in our lives that we love them often enough. We called each of our grandchildren that afternoon to tell them just that…that we love them. Thanks to Rabbi for helping us to act in a way to make our lives richer.
Giving honors during the service is an integral part of the holidays. Not that I want to diminish the importance of having members open the curtains to the Aron Kodesh, but it was so special to have members of the congregation do readings.
Front row seats for everyone - especially seeing the torah, with the yad pointing out the words as our readers layned the parshahs - was just beautiful.
Folks who would normally go to their “winter” congregation for the Holy Days, joined us this year. Seeing friends and chatting with each other brought an intimacy to the service. Rabbi going around and welcoming the Zoomers reminded us of the friendliness of our congregation. Seeing the work of the Ritual Committee and Contingency High Holiday Committee come to fruition brought a sigh of relief to all those involved in the planning of services.
The committee and Rabbi received several notes after the Holiday in appreciation of a job well done. Here is one I want to share with you. From Arlene & Fred Schragger:
"Dear Rose, we would like to publicly offer our congratulations to all of you who made these High Holidays so special, moving and smooth running: YOU, Rabbi Jay, Sheri Jay, Rob VanAArden, Stuart Pepose, Michael & Irene Babst, all of the readers and participants worked so hard! The results were spectacular, and Cantor Geller was a joy to listen to and see!! Bravo, bravo, bravo.
And not only were these services wonderful, but also all of the programming which has been ongoing throughout the pandemic is thoughtful and full of effort. We appreciate all of it.
Todah Rabah! And again Happy New Year!"
Rose Valentine, E-Letter Editor
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THE WEEK THAT WAS....
Not skipping a beat after Yom Kippur, the Women's Auxiliary held two successful events this week.
Wednesday afternoon, a Zoom Paid -Up Membership luncheon featured Dr. Jessica McCall who spoke to us about Feminism "Then and Now" taking us from the Sufferagettes to the challenges of women during the Covid Era.
Thursday evening we were treated to a facinating interview by author Sondra Helene of our own Susan Shapiro Barash. We heard a lot about what it takes to put a novel together as well as an insider view of Susan's new novel "A Palm Beach Scandal."
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THE WEEK TO COME....
Join us for our third virtual Shabbat Dinner this Friday evening at 6:00 PM. We will start our evening with services and blessings, followed by a period of sharing your Shabbat dinner with family and friends in a breakout room. If you have no specific request and are open to making new friends, we will arrange for you to be seated with a fabulous group of people. ALL ARE WELCOME!
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The Chaverah Group invites you for a get together, socially distance of course, at the beach! Let’s all meet up at 4:30 on Monday, October 5th (weather permitting) at the 68th Street Beach for “Cocktails and Canapés.” So throw some wine and cheese into your beach bag, grab a sweatshirt and beach chair and meet us at the beach! Please let us know if your interested so that we can reach out and keep you updated.
Hope to see you all there!
Call Suzy Geier (703) 629 8654
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ZOOM CLASSES WILL RESUME AFTER SUCCOTH |
ANNUAL 50/50 RAFFLE
WINNERS
Thank you to all those who particpated in this year's raffle - a record number of tickets were sold. Special thanks to Chairperson Diane Hoffman for her diligence and the eye catching posters and to the staff as well.
HERE ARE OUR WINNERS
3rd Prize - Joann Ramer $783.30
2nd prize - Bob and Lynn Levitt $2,349.90
1st prize Florence Sabosik
( ticket sold by
Sherry Fruchterman)
$4,699.80
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GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
PAVERS
Inscribe a paver at the front entrance to the building
8" X 4", 8" X 8" and 12" X 12"
SEE UPDATED ORDER FORM:
Become a permanent part of the JCC landscape.
Purchase a personalized paving stone
in honor of your family or in memory of a loved one.
Please contact Diane Hoffman
with your order or with any questions:
PRAYER BOOKS
There are still High Holiday Prayer Books and Chumashim available to be purchased in memory or honor of someone or something. The cost of a Prayer Book is $72 each and $120 for an Eitz Hayim Chumash. The donation includes an affirmation sticker in the book and an acknowledgement letter or letters.
TRIBUTES
SEND ONE OF OUR TRIBUTES IN HONOR OR IN MEMORY OF
TREE OF LIFE
Add a leaf (leaves) to our beautiful Tree of Life located in the Social Hall. See the order form here: TREE OF LIFE
Bronze Leaf $90
Silver Leaf $126
Gold :Leaf $180
ENDOWMENT FUND
Join Herb and Selma Shapiro z'l to help assure the continuity of our JCC, and our ability to continue providing a full- congregation to serve the Jewish people of the area. Judith z"l & Donald Pripstein have joined the Shapiros with a $50,000 donation and have established The Pripstein Family Endowment Fund.
A donation of at least $50,000 to the endowment fund will allow the donor to name one of the funds as the donor wishes. All such name funds will be joined together to be part of the endowment fund portfolio.
All members are encouraged to help this important effort by contributing to this fund whether as a specific named fund, or as a general donation. Your gift to the fund can be sent to the JCC Office. Please mark your check accordingly.
YAHRZEIT PLAQUES
Space is available for memorial plaques on the yahrzeit boards in the Sanctuary.
Here is the order form:
KOL HAKAVOD
Please consider being a part of this campaign to supplement the clergy needs of our congregation. This is a separate, voluntary commitment and is additional to our low annual dues obligation. HERE IS THE LINK TO BRING UP THE DONATION FORM KOL HAKAVOD
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Candle Lighting Time
Friday evening,
October 2, 2020
6:18 PM
(So. Ocean County NJ)
Saturday evening
October 3, 2020
7:47 PM
JOIN US FOR SERVICES
ON ZOOM
Friday evening
October 2, 2020
SHABBAT DINNER
EREV SUKKOT
6:00 PM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Saturday morning
October 3, 2020
1st Day of Sukkot
10:00 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Torah Reading
Leviticus 22:26-23:44
Here is the Parshah
Haftorah
Zechariah 14:1-21
Here is the Haftorah:
Saturday,
October 3, 2020
7:30 PM
HAVDALLAH
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
Sunday morning
October 4, 2020
2nd Day if Sukkot
10:00 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Leviticus 22:26-23:44
Here is the Parshah
Haftorah
I Kings 8:2 - 8:21
Here is the Haftorah:
Sunday - Thursday
Ma'ariv Service
7:30 PM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
Sunday - Friday
Shacharit Service
8:15 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
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Betty Bosswick
Rose Britz*
Abraham Greenspan
Ruth Srager
Beulah Gubar*
Dora Kaplan
Alfred Krechovitz*
Bea Mendlow*
Lena Greenwald*
Elaine Hirsch*
Mildred Berman
Selma Blacker*
Daniel Glass
Ethel Tarlow
Bertrand Berman
Doris Farin*
Lynn Kamler Levi*
Pauline Sherman
Samuel Hoffman
Milton Seavey
Casper Ungar*
IF YOU HAVE A YARZEIT AND WANT TO SAY KADISH, JOIN THE RABBI FOR SERVICES SUNDAY - FRIDAY MORNING AT 8:15 to 8:45 AND EVENINGS SUNDAY - THURSDAY AT 7:30 to 7:45. HERE ARE THE LINKS.
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Gregg Gilman
October 4
Marc Wisotsky
October 5
Mark Rosen
October 9
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Chaverah
Things are a-changing. We had a night of games in July and it was a night of laughs and fun and so we decided to do it again. This time, it will only be trivia, and the wining zoomers will receive a free ticket to our next game night. How does that sound! The Chaverah group is inviting our members, friends and family to another night of Trivia Zoom Style. Hosted by the professional “Text Breakers”, we will start our night of challenge on Thursday, October 15 at 8:00 PM. Cost is $15.00. For this event, you will need two devices, a mobile phone and a laptop, or pc or iPad. Call the office to purchase tickets for this event or click here to order tickets and the office will contact you for payment.
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THE JCC OF LBI IS LOCATED AT
2411 Long Beach Boulevard (24th Street)
Spray Beach, NJ 08008
Telephone: 609-492-4090 FAX: 609-492-7550
THE OFFICE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED.
PLEASE USE THE PHONE OR EMAIL WITH REQUESTS.
OUR OFFICE STAFF WILL BE CHECKING IN REGULARLY.
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Staff:
Leslie Dinkfelt, Office Manager
Mary Beth Krieger, Staff Member
Tony DeGregorio, Custodial Staff
Kitchen Manager: Susan Berube
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LATEST
BULLETIN:
PRAYER BOOK:
WEB SITE:
PAVERS:
TREE OF LIFE
YAHRZEIT PLAQUE FORM:
KOL HAKAVOD DONATION FORM
KOL HAKAVOD
TRIBUTES:
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Rabbi Michael S. Jay
Michael Babst, President
E-mail Editor: Rose Valentine
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