|
CHAI LINES
The Newsletter of the International Northeast Region
September 8, 2023 - 22 Elul 5783
| |
|
If you are viewing Chai Lines on your smartphone,
consider a landscape orientation for easier viewing.
| |
|
Welcome!
As members of a WLCJ affiliated sisterhood or as a WLCJ Individual Member, you also belong to the International Northeast Region (INR) of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and we are happy to be able to send you our bi-weekly region newsletter we call “Chai Lines”! Please read and enjoy!
| |
From our Region President
| |
|
Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe but the care-free days of summer are over, and we are now looking ahead to the coming Yamim Nora’im (High Holy Days) - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This is a time for what we call “Cheshbon Hanefesh” (the accounting of the soul). We do Cheshbon Hanefesh every year during the month of Elul, the month leading up the High Holy Days. It is seen as a time of reflection on the past year or a time for taking inventory of our past actions so that we may know what we need to change. Some believe that Elul is a month of looking backward as we reflect on how our relationships with others and with God have been in the past. However, you can look at it in a different way. Perhaps we can look at Elul as a month for setting goals and planning for the future. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l seems to agree with this view. He wrote that “to mend the past, first you have to secure the future”. “First, we must focus on building a better future. Then and only then we can redeem the past” (Thoughts for Elul, September 4, 2014).
While it is important to be mindful of those times in which we have missed the mark in the past year, I would like to suggest that instead of worrying about the year that has occurred, we look ahead to the year that is coming. How can we grow? What can we learn? How can we be different? Where can we find joy and fulfillment? How can we nurture our relationships with family and friends to ensure that they evolve in a positive direction? Can we build upon what we have learned and decide on a course for change and growth in the future? As Rabbi Sacks said, “focus on building a better future”. Then and only then can we truly complete the process of cheshbon hanefesh, of accounting for our soul, and only then can we begin the new year with the of intention improving ourselves and of building a better world.
We can extrapolate this idea to include the work we do in Women’s League, our sisterhoods, and our Jewish communities. We can look ahead to this coming year to plan better, be pro-active, collaborate more and above all be kinder to all. Together, let us strive to improve our lives and brighten the future for us all.
I would like to wish you all a meaningful, reflective and future-thinking month of Elul and a Shanah Tovah U‘Metukah - a good and sweet New Year.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marilyn
Marilyn Cohen
Region President
INRPresident21@wlcj.org
| |
|
Save the Date!
for our next region program:
Journey into Judaism with Jerilynn Payne
Monday November 13th @ 7:30 PM
More info coming soon!
| |
From our Torah Fund Vice President | | |
|
|
Announcing
Our 2023-2024
Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh
Campaign
All the people of Israel are responsible for one another
| |
|
The new pins have been shipped to Torah Fund Chairs, gifts for those who give at the Guardian ($180) or Benefactor ($300) level. For those giving at even higher levels, the pins have been shipped directly to the donors. If more pins are required, let me know and additional pins can be ordered. How exciting that some of our affiliates are already asking for extra pins! Many of the pins have been distributed to the donors.
This year’s pin says "Averut" which means responsibility. This word is taken from the full expression is Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh - all of Israel is responsible for one another.
If you are a member of the Torah Fund Legacy Society, remember to move your Atid/Future charm from one pin to the other. If you are not yet a member of the Legacy Society, consider joining so your mitzvah of generosity to our students can continue beyond your lifetime. Learn more here: Torah Fund Legacy Society - Jewish Theological Seminary (jtsa.edu)
It's always exciting to get the new pin and wear it proudly. For the Women’s League Convention in Schaumburg, I collected all my pins and attached them to a new tote bag, depicting the US and Canadian flags, symbolic of our region. (See the photo below.) In the middle of the heart, I’ve added the pin for Stand Up for Jewish Hate. It seemed fitting to add an anti-hate pin to my tote bag, especially when this year’s theme is about our responsibility to one another. Torah Fund takes responsibility, as the dedicated tzedakah of Women’s League, to support the students at the five institutions of higher learning associated with the worldwide Masorti/Conservative Movement. Our dollars, a few, or many, make a difference for the future of our movement. Your generosity is very much appreciated. You share in the mitzvah of helping to educate our future rabbis, cantors, scholars, and educators.
| |
Week At A Glance
This week at Women's League:
| |
Mathilde's Master Class: Information Session | |
|
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023
| |
|
“Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility.
into flames of achievement.”
– Golda Meir
Please join us as we continue our educational journey with Mathilde’s Master Class. During this three-year course, offered to WLCJ members, you will study women’s voices, in text, history, and ritual with accomplished women scholars in their fields. Sessions will meet monthly on Zoom. A reading knowledge of Hebrew will be helpful. There will be a nominal annual materials fee...
| | |
|
|
We are excited to announce our next WL Reads selection, “Where The Lilacs Bloom Once Again, Friddie’s Story” by Roni Rosenthal.
The author chronicles her family’s struggles for survival as relayed through the story of her great grandmother and great aunt. Told in novel fashion, this is a tragic-heroic tale of strength based on the true stories of a Jewish Romanian family.
Ms. Rosenthal is the director of Judaic Studies and a Hebrew Literature Professor at the University of Maryland. She will be our guest speaker November 2, 2023 at 8:00 PM.
Registration will open soon.
WL Reads programs coming up:
The Choice by Maggie Anton - Sunday, February 11, 2024 at 1:00 PM ET
Exile Music by Jennifer Steile - Date and Time TBA
EMAIL
Karen Block
WL Reads Chair
kblock@wlcj.org
| |
THIS COULD BE YOU! Future Bat Mitzvah Class | |
|
Picture yourself here three years from now - leading a service, delivering a d'var Torah, and chanting Torah.
THIS COULD BE YOU!
Here is your opportunity to become a member of the next Bat Mitzvah class. This three-year program, taught by Rabbis, Educators, and Leaders of the Conservative movement, will meet once a month. Joining this class will not only enrich your knowledge of Judaism, but you will become a part of a special community of women with a common goal and bond.
Please let us know of your interest by emailing Toby B. Holtzman or Anne Schimberg.
| |
The collective WE of WLCJ can make a difference! | Give a gift today so we can help them be here for tomorrow…. | |
|
Jerilynn Payne
August 16, 2023
The Maui Hawaii wildlife fire is one of the deadliest wildfires in modern United States history with a death toll of, as of August 18, 110 people and climbing. Teams, some with cadaver dogs, are focused on locating over 1,000 missing people as they methodically search structures and charred ruins. Over 13, 000 people are homeless. Some people have sheltered with the assistance of various organizations. The rapidly moving fire devastated over 2,200 structures mostly in the historic city of Lahaina. The needs are great, and WE can help...
| |
Our Shifrah and Puah Project - GIVING THE GIFT OF A HEALTHY BIRTH | |
Through donations, the Shifrah and Puah Maternity Center in Uganda serves the women of Mbale and its neighboring villages and has a multi-denominational clientele and staff of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. All services provided by the center are completely free of charge to encourage women to come in for prenatal, birth and post-partum services rather than going through their pregnancies unassisted. The center is dependent on donations... | |
WLCJ 5784 Calendar Diaries | |
|
Pocket Size = $11.00
Planner Size = $26.00
You may now order bulk quantities online.
| |
|
ONLINE
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at
9 AM PT; 10 AM MT, 11 AM CT; 12 PM ET
| |
|
A virtual service for our WLCJ Sisters to recite Mishaberach, the Prayer for Healing, recite the Psalm of the Day, study and recite Kaddish together.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/630830287
Meeting ID: 630 830 287
Password: 875936
| Want to sing, teach, help with technology, and more during Daily Psalm Study, and Kaddish? | |
A virtual background is. available for Makom B'Yachad!
DOWNLOAD HERE
| |
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech
September 9, 2023
| |
|
For the past 80-plus years, the Torah Fund Campaign of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, the dedicated philanthropy of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, has been supporting scholarships and programs in the worldwide Conservative/Masorti institutes of higher Jewish learning, The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, Schechter Institutes of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, and Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam.
The 2023-2024 / 5784 Torah Fund General Campaign is Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh, All the people of Israel are responsible for one another.
Arevut, responsibility, will be visible on our new, silver heart-shaped charm which can be worn as a pendant or pin.
The WWOT, the Weekly Words of Torah, each week through the end of June 2024, will delve into the idea of arevut, responsibility.
| |
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech is a reaffirmation of the covenant made between God and the children of Israel; not just those of the generation in the Sinai Desert, but with all of us until today, as is stated in Deuteronomy 29:14, “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord your God and with those who are not with us here this day.” We all stood at Sinai – even those not yet born. It is our responsibility to pass on God’s covenant to the next generation, by teaching Torah values, and living a life of Torah values. Another way we take responsibility to show that God not only made the covenant with those at Sinai, but with all of us, is through our support of the Torah Fund Campaign of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism. This year’s Torah Fund Campaign is Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh “All of Israel is Responsible for One Another.” The pin this year highlights the word ‘arevut,’ responsibility. It corresponds to the theme from the Babylonian Talmud, Shevuot 39a, that all the people of Israel are responsible for one another, and we assume that responsibility through our support of the five Conservative/Masorti institutions of higher education. |  | |
|
Corinne Hammerschlag
corinneh@rogers.com
| |
|
Keep your eyes on WL Week as we will be posting and sharing your Sisterhood Affiliate/Region sustainability programs.
We invite you to share your programs with us.
Email Corinne or Heddy today!
Heddy Belman
hbelman@wlcj.org
| |
|
As we are beginning 5784 and Sisterhood Affiliates are beginning their busy year, we would like to introduce ourselves as your new Programming Chairs of WLCJ. My name is Jill Tomar, and I am past president and past Torah Fund vice president of Florida Region. Toby Maser is past president of INR and has been a consultant for WLCJ for more than 15 years. We both come with many experiences in programming but are always learning new things.
Jill Tomar
jill.tomar@gmail.com
| |
|
We are planning to put an article in WL Week every other week. We have a small committee working with us, consisting of Debbie Green (CGLR) and Terry Jonas (Florida). We plan to present easily-implemented programs for all size sisterhoods/affiliates, from those with fewer than 50 members to those with more than 300 members. There are many resources available on the WLCJ website, as well as many programs from the Jewels of the Crown Awards. Jewels of the Crown Awards recognize programming from Sisterhood Affiliates in a range of categories, and we plan to highlight some of these exemplary programs in our biweekly articles.
We are both available to help your Sisterhood Affiliate as needed. If you have great programs that you would like to share or need some programming advice, please contact one of us.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and sweet New Year,
Jill and Toby
Toby Maser
tmaser@wlcj.org
| | |
|
|
|
Digital Torah Fund eCards
for every occasion!
| |
All prices include regular shipping (with tracking, 2-4 weeks). Express shipping costs an extra $20 per item. | |
Ongoing WLCJ Happenings/Resources | |
Please click on the image to learn more | |
|
To learn more about these opportunities,
| | | |
|
|
MERCAZ USA at the Extraordinary Zionist Congress
MERCAZ USA and our international partners made a significant difference and were a LOUD voice for your values at the Extraordinary Zionist Congress held in Jerusalem at the end of April.
1. The forces fighting for a pluralistic democratic Israel are on the offensive and we won this Congress
2. The delaying tactics of those who opposed us failed this time
3. We stood up for MERCAZ USA’s values and our voice was heard loud and clear..
| |
INR of Women's League for Conservative Judaism | | | | |
