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NEW YEAR! NEW DECADE! COME JOIN US!
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Greetings!
Women of Rodef Sholom provides you the opportunity for community. Come feel connected and meet some wonderful women. We want to get to know you!
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TIME FOR A FUN ADULT NIGHT OUT!
(A highlight of the year)
Saturday, February 1st 7 pm
Featuring great questions, music and visuals
Our own Howard Rachelson, Master of Trivia, provides a great evening of fun and entertainment.
Your entry includes:
- One drink & delicious sweet/savory treats
- Many door and raffle prizes
- 50/50 Drawing (winner keeps half)
- Silent Auction with terrific items
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$25 in advance (pay on-line now)
$30 at the door
Same price as last year!
Our big Fund Raiser supports the WRS Tikkun Olam Fund
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1/7 & 1/21 1-3 pm Rodef Sholom Social Hall
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Monthly open Mahj play is usually the first & third Tuesday of every month.
Remember to bring card and sets. All skills welcome!
Let's have fun!
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1/15 7:15-8:15 JCC Library
(3rd Wed. of the month)
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Schedule:
January 15:
On Division by Goldie Goldbloom (this year's Jewish Learning Works One Bay One Book selection
February 19th- The Girl from Berlin by Ronald Balson
To RSVP
CLICK HERE
or Call Alice Miller with questions: 415-381-6792
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Tikkun Olam - SF/Marin Food Bank Service Opportunity & Food Drive
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Main Food Bank Service Opportunity
Tuesday, January 28, 12-2 pm and
Thursday, February 13, 9-11 am
Join us at the SF Marin Food Bank located at 2550 Kerner Blvd, San Rafael.
MUST RSVP WITH SUSAN (see below)
We will have fun and do a tremendous mitzvah together!
Since 1987 The San Francisco Marin Food Bank has been helping to address food insecurity which affects 1 in 5 people in our community. There are 260 food pantries including at college campuses. There are home deliveries to seniors and disabled adults and snacks to high need schools. 60% of the food delivered is fresh produce
.
Put on your hairnet and have a good time! Wear closed toe shoes and an extra layer as it can be cool in the warehouse.
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Holiday Dinner Drive formerly "Turkey Mitzvah"
Benefiting the SF/Marin Food Bank
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YOU CAN STILL PARTICIPATE
Every year we raise money to feed the hungry. This year we continue this tradition of Tikkun Olam.
Be sure to check "Congregation Rodef Sholom" in the drop down section.
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The now famous WRS Jewelry & Accessories Sale is
February 9th!
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DONATIONS:
Do a New Year clean up and bring us your donations.
Please gather your new or gently used jewelry and accessories (scarfs, purses, belts) and bring them to the temple office.
Mark them: WRS Jewelry Sale
SORTING DAY
:
Friday Jan 17, 10:30-1:00 in the social hall
We need volunteers to help sort the donations.
Volunteers needed day of the Sale:
- 1.5 hour shifts to help set up
- 2 hour shifts during
- 1 hour after for clean up
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Time for learning Next Month
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Curriculum: 10 Commandments
February 20, 27 and March 5
7-8:30 pm in the JCC Library
Claire Mikowski, Jewish Education extraordinaire, will be teaching this class. An opportunity to make connections while learning.
Cost of Curriculum is $36 plus shipping
(If cost is a concern, arrangements can be made)
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WRS ANNUAL RETREAT
May 15-17
Westerbeke Ranch
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New this year:
Early bird Registration DISCOUNT!
going live on January 15th
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Hanukkah Membership Social
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Such a lovely Hanukkah Social and so very well attended.
Yasher Koach to Fanny Stein, Judy Frumkin and the Membership Team for hosting such wonderful afternoon. Thanks also to Ingrid Tolson for our Gift Shop pop-up.
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Main Food Bank Service
WRS doing some serious Tikkun Olam work
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Angela Giacomini, Lauren Sugerman, BettyAnn Kram, Randy (SF Food Bank Volunteer Organizer), Judy Frumkin and Susan Goldwasser (WRS Captain)
"We processed 4000 pounds of food to help feed 12,000 people!"
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Your Gift Shop will be closed from Monday, December 30th through Monday, January 20th
.
We are closing to take inventory, thoroughly clean the shop and restock our shelves with wonderful Judaica.
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We look forward to seeing you on the 20th of January.
If you need anything, we are happy to arrange a time to open especially for you. Most appreciate an email at
ronnavoor@yahoo.com
Regular hours:
MON - THURS: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
FRI: 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
SUNDAY (most) 10:00 - 12:30
Closed all Saturdays
Or by appointment, call Ingrid: 415-640-7868
As we are solely run by volunteers, call to make sure we're open: 415 444 8098
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WANT TO GET INVOLVED BUT DON'T KNOW HOW?
The Women of Rodef Sholom’s Programming and Membership Committees are seeking new volunteers. Volunteering time, energy and passion to these committees is rewarding work! It is also a great way to meet new people, contribute to interesting projects, and give back to our wonderful organization.
Programming Team meeting:
Date:
Tuesday, January 7, 5:30 to 7 pm, in the JCC library
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BE OF SERVICE: GIVE A SISTER A RIDE
Some Sisterhood members no longer drive and would still like to come to events. Can you offer a ride to a Sister in need?
If so,
CLICK HERE and Jen Levine will connect you. Thank you for being of service!
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Renew your Membership for 2019-2020
(if you haven't already done so)
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You can do it on-line. It's easy!
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Message from our President
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Dear Women of Rodef Sholom:
I hope you had a warm, wonderful Hanukkah with your friends and family; I loved seeing so many of you, including a number of new members and guests, at our Hanukkah Social earlier in December!
Not long after that, I had the privilege of attending the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial Convention in Chicago, where a number of Rodef Sholom clergy, staff, and congregants proudly participated in Shabbat services beautifully lead by Rabbi Stacy. In case you didn’t get a chance to watch the livestream, she represented Northern California so wonderfully through a teaching about our sturdy redwood trees standing tall for centuries through an interconnected root system. Of course, in my tale, you all are a critical part of my interconnected root system!
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Also at the Biennial, Rodef Sholom’s amazing mental health team presented our REAL Mental Health Initiative to other conference participants, including congregations eager to start similar programs in their communities. Jewish rock star and former Rodef Sholom artist-in-residence, Dan Nichols, and other amazing musicians filled the convention center with joyful songs. I was privileged to learn from presenters from all over the world and from all walks of Reform Judaism and beyond about so many fascinating topics. I attended sessions on the history of women in Reform Judaism, challenges within our criminal justice system, inclusion and “Audacious Hospitality” of LGBTQ+ people, Millennials and Generation Z (those born between 1980-1994 and between 1995-2010 respectively), and Jews of color in our communities and, increasingly, outside of our synagogue walls. One example: prior to the Biennial, I wasn’t aware that approximately 25% of San Francisco Bay Area Jewish households include nonwhite and multiracial members, 12-15% of U.S. Jews identify as nonwhite, and those figures are growing (
https://jewsofcolorfieldbuilding.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Counting-Inconsistencies-052119.pdf
). So interesting and so important!
All three of my Generation Z kids have been home this holiday season, spending time with family but also with their friends, which has been a great balance for all of us!
January brings more Board and committee work; please reach out to me or another Women of Rodef Sholom (WRS) Board member if you would like to broaden or deepen your participation. January also brings year 2020 on the Gregorian calendar and another Presidential election, wow. No doubt that the WRS and the Congregation will host activities to help you make your mark on history.
Early February promises two of my favorite Women of Rodef Sholom events: Trivia Night on the evening of Saturday, February 1 and our Jewelry/Accessories Sale, which is midday Sunday, February 9. I hope to see you at both!
Join us, because, without you, we are one woman short!
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Jen Levine
President, Women of Rodef Sholom
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Congregation Rodef Sholom
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Join the Congregation's Kaddish minyan to gather weekly in support of one another as we mourn our losses - Wednesdays at 9am in the sanctuary.
Contact Eilite at
eilite@rodefsholom.org
for more information. Thank you for being a mensch (a person of integrity and honor) in our community
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In the bin this month: In the temple lobby
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January:
New men’s and women’s socks for the unsheltered to be distributed by Ritter House
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WORLD ZIONIST CONGRESS
An article submitted by Ronna Voorsanger
Wobbling, stumbling, helping each other over hundreds of plywood boards sprawled over the rubble of what a few days earlier had been intact Jordanian houses, we made our way to the Wailing Wall, some afternoon near the end of the Six Day War, June, 1967.
Stuffing small scraps of papers with family names, living and dead, into the crevices of what is now known as the Western Wall, I leaned into the stone mindful that I represented all my ancestors who would have traded their abject poverty in Eastern Europe or left the comfort of their San Diego lives to have done the same.
At the Wailing Wall, against the sounds of occasional gun fire some blocks away, we freely mingled, strangers hugging strangers, religious and secular rubbing elbows and not once were we women shooed into women’s space. In the beginning, the liberation was beautiful, democratic chaos.
Today, 26% of Western Wall ground serves as women only space denying women access to 74% of the wall reserved for men and, additionally, we are divided by a low wall so we cannot be seen. As you must be aware, Jewish Israeli religious life is controlled by the Orthodox who comprise no more than 20% of the Israeli population. This control affects Jews throughout the world and hits women the hardest.
There is a way forward for our Reform Jewish values to affect change and bring light to our world at the Wall, divorce laws, gender issues, religious rights for all Israelis whether Jew, Muslim or Christian.
Read Rabbi Elana’s front page of the January/February Voice for how VOTING REFORM in the upcoming WZC elections can have an impact. We can raise our voices for change.
If you don’t like how things turned out for women at the Western Wall; If you don’t want your grandchildren treated unjustly; if you know Zionism is not a dirty word but an expression of the desire for a totally democratic Israel with the true freedom to express your Jewish values.
You can help change the dynamics!
VOTE REFORM in the upcoming World Zionist Congress
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Jewish Women’s Theatre presents:
Mapping of the Mind
Tuesday, February 4, 2020 7 -9 pm
JCC – Kurland Lounge
An unforgettable and provocative evening of salon-style theater!
Mapping of the Mind
When the mind doesn’t work the way others expect it to there is a recipe for laughs and for heartbreak. These are stories from individuals whose brains operate a bit differently.
Mental illness is no laughing matter, but these stories and poems just might surprise you with their humor, heart, courage and hope.
Tickets:
Here
is link to the EVENTBRITE page that is live. We are still working on our web page and marketing materials to accompany this program
Special
PROMO CODE
for your organization on Public Tickets is called
SISTERHOOD
. The JCC member price is already discounted.
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WRS Minhag (custom)
"Heal Her Now" SCARFS
BIG NEWS: We just won an Or Ami Award from the WRJ (Women of Reform Judaism) for this project!
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El na, refah na lah (Please God, heal her now)
From Numbers 12:13 -
Then Moses cried to the LORD, "Heal her now, O God."
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The Women of Rodef Sholom has a new minhag (custom) which was introduced and created at the WRS Retreat this year. Beautiful hand-made silk scarfs were produced, wrapped in Mishaberach prayers while holding the Torah, and adorned with healing prayers and love.
When a woman in our Congregation has a very serious illness, she will be presented with a "Heal Her Now" Scarf as a gift from the Women of Rodef Sholom. Rabbi Stacy has the box of scarfs.
Sharing this kind of loving kindness, refu’ah sh’leymah (complete healing), and Torah, is what Sisterhood is all about.
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We solemnly pray that you never need one of these scarfs. However, if you do, please contact Rabbi Stacy or
wrs@rodefsholom.org
and you will be wrapped in healing love.
El na, refah na lah (Please God, heal her now)!
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