Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island E-Letter
May 7, 2021
25 Iyar 5781
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Yom Yerushalayim
May 10th
Jerusalem Day (Hebrew: יום ירושלים, Yom Yerushalayim) is an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to thank G-d for victory in the Six-Day War and for answering the 2,000-year-old prayer of "Next Year in Jerusalem".
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At the beginning of Parashat Bechukotai, the Torah tells us that if we do good, by following the commandments in the Torah, we will be blessed. But, if we fail to follow its rules, then we will be cursed. As if to highlight the negative aspect, the listing of curses is much longer than the listing of blessings. Indeed, the curses become increasingly grotesque.
With the pronouncement of blessings and curses, there is an underlying message that is easily missed because of its subtlety. Ultimately, the ability to receive a blessing or a curse resides within us. Through Free Will we determine whether to do God’s bidding, or not. The message? Our destiny, at least where God and good deeds are concerned, is within our control.
Free will permits us to make decisions, but it does not protect us from the consequences of those decisions. This is where things become complicated. Why are we given a choice? Why doesn’t God snap God’s Godly fingers and pronounce: “From now on people will only do the right things!”
I think God places the onus on us because God wants to be in relationship with us, and a relationship is only “real” if both parties to it make choices about that relationship.
God is literally saying: “Make the correct choices and, together, We will be happy and prosper. But if you make the wrong choice, together, We are all going to suffer.” The “We” is God, the Israelites, the land, and everything in and on the land.
The Israelites are given two distinct visions of their future. They are given a choice about which to follow. To us, as readers, the choice seems to be a “no-brainer”. But as we continue reading the Torah, and as we study Jewish history, even recent Jewish history, we know that, even given the best of information, the correct choices are not always made. We are an interesting people.
What are we to learn from this? In our lives we always have choices. Some are near epic and some are mundane; but we are presented with options just the same. The choices we make do not only impact us. Our decisions impact the lives of individuals and our community as a whole. Your Free Will is not a gift for you to use to serve your singular purpose. Exercise it in such a way that the community around you will benefit. Make God proud of our relationship.
And so concludes the Book of Leviticus. The beauty of Torah is that there are no endings; the story continues; it moves in nuanced words that shift in meaning from person to person, time to time, and era to era. Choice, alternative, option; use them to better yourself, strengthen community, and to enhance your relationship with the Holy One.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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Hazzan Sarah Geller will be joining us for services this Saturday morning
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Candle Lighting Time
Friday evening,
May 7, 2021
7:39 PM
JOIN US FOR SERVICES
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May 7, 2021
6:00 PM
KABBALAT SERVICE
FOLLOWED BY
SHABBAT DINNER
IN BREAKOUT ROOMS
For dinner
Please click on this link and fill in the form by Friday, May 7 at 3:00 PM. List your name(s), single(s) or couple(s), and include the names of friends and family to be included in your private breakout room
Last minute
Just join us!
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services/Dinner
Saturday morning
May, 8 2021
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Torah Study
9:00 AM
Services
10:00 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Torah Study/Services
A Lombardi will be reading Torah.
Hazzan Geller will be chanting the Haftorah
Torah Reading
Parashat Behar-Bechukotai
Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Here is the Reading
Haftorah
Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14
Here is the Haftorah
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Saturday evening
8:00 PM
Havdallah
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Sunday - Thursday
Ma'ariv Service
7:30 PM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
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Sunday - Friday
Shacharit Service
8:15 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
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SHAVUOT SERVICES
Sunday night:
May 16th:
8:00 - Shavuot Services and then
Tikkun Leil Shavuot - Study sessions and topics to be announced.
Bring your own Cheesecake!!!!
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.THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
MONDAY 5/10 @ 10:00 AM
Chumash Class
WEDNESDAY 5/12
Rabbi's University Class @ 8:00 PM
THURSDAY 5/13
11:00 AM Torah Study with the Rabbi
2:00 PM Beginning Hebrew with Ira
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HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR THE ACTIVITIES FOR THIS WEEK |
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THE WEEK THAT WAS...
Last Friday evening two young families joined us to light candles, say Kiddush and the Motzi over the challah. The children really enjoyed welcoming the Shabbat with Rabbi Jay. Look for more opportunities for families to be a part of our congregation events.
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SHABBAT DINNER
Friday, May 7th
at 6:00 PM
SHABBAT MORNING WITH
HAZZAN SARA GELLER
Saturday, May 8
10:00 AM
MOVIE NITE
7:45 PM
SHTISEL CONTINUES.....
May 13 - The Brothers: Akiva and Zvi Areyeh
May 20 - The Mother and Daughter: Giti and Rachami
May 27 -The Abba and his Brother: Shulem and Nukhem
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LET'S WALK THE BRIDGE
Sunday, May 23rd
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
WAX BOOK REVIEW
Wednesday, May 26
4:00 PM
"The Third Daughter"
by Talia Carner
A frightening journey into the New World of the late 1800s, told by a trusting young woman lured from Russia and forced into prostitution in Buenos Aires. As she finds courage in the face of danger and hope in hours of despair, Batya struggles to free herself from bondage while bringing down the powerful pimps’ union. The turn of the 20th century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms.
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LOOKING FORWARD TO JUNE
Thursday, June 17 at 7:45 PM
SUSAN & FRIENDS 2021
THE MEN SPEAK OUT"
EDMUND A. HAJIM
author, financier and philanthropist will discuss his book
"On the Road Less Traveled: An Unlikely Journey from the Orphanage to the Boardroom "
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UTHE WOMEN'S AUXILIARY
OF THE
JCC OF LBI
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THIS WEEK'S YAHRZEITS
The following names will be read at Friday night services.
Josephine Cramer
Dr. Harry Herman*
David Kaplan
Elizabeth Piwosky
Isidor Rothstein
Bernice Szanger*
Martin Garb
Abraham Joseph Kates*
Jerome Stanley Katz*
Herbert Kramer
Kate Alexander
Mark Babbitt
Richard Gardner, MD
Vera Lipman
Harry Solomon*
Judith Weinstein
Leona Adelman
Louis Gilman
Lilian Herman
Betty Lander
Esther Epstein*
Blanche Lambert*
Sophia Dobrow
Ruth Friedman*
Adele Graboyes
Wilma Lang*
Michael Weinman
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In this Zoom era, we have been able to have a daily minyan at 8:15 AM and at 7:30 PM and on Shabbat. We encourage you to join us on the day of your loved one’s yahrzeit. In the morning, the service is about ½ hour beginning at 8:15 and in the evening at 7:30 until about 7:45. Rabbi will be glad to say the traditional El Malei Rachamim prayer for you, which is recited during the funeral, going up to the grave of the departed, Yizkor remembrance day and other occasions on which the memory of the dead is recalled. You are also welcome to share with the minyan some special memories of your loved one. |
CARING COMMITTEE
This committee acts as a support system for congregation members facing illness and other personal situations that need to be addressed.
Please contact Chairperson,
Debby Schweighardt
if you are in need of assistance or if you know of a JCC member
that needs our help.
973-634-5349
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Jeffrey Bernstein
May 8
Ira Fox
May 10
Anne Hamburger
May 10
Sybil Kleinfeld
May 12
Carole Nunberg
May 13
Irene Babst
May 14
Samuel Braun
May 14
Jeff Sussman
May 14
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SUZIE & JON GEIER
on the birth of their
..granddaughter Holly Elyse
to daughter
Kate & Tim Cummings
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JORDYN HANSEL
on becoming a bat mitzvah last Shabbat.
Jordyn is the granddaughter of Ali and Rabbi Jack Friedman z'l
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ABBIE KRILL
Abbie was selected to be on the softball team representing NJ at the USA All American Games this summer.. She is the daughter of Stephanie & Butch Krill and the granddaughter of Jeri & Ben Riffle
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GRIFFIN ILAN VALENTINE
on his graduation from
Johnson & Wales University. Griffin is the grandson of Rose & Rudy Valentine
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SHARE YOUR NEWS
AND PICTURES
CONTACT:
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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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JCC FUNDS
Your gift to the JCC support our Clergy, our Congregation and the Community.
ENDOWMENT FUND
This fund was established to assure the continuity of our JCC, and our ability to continue providing a full-service congregation to serve the Jewish people of the area. While a donation of any amount is encouraged, a donation of at least $50,000 allows the donor to name a special or specific Endowment Fund in memory or honor of a specific person event, or family.
GENERAL FUND
Donations to this fund are not earmarked but placed in the general administrative account. Donations to this fund can be in honor or memory of a person, event, or family.
KOL HAKAVOD FUND
Donations to this campaign supplement the clergy needs of our congregation.
RABBI’S DISCRETIONARY FUND
This fund, managed by the rabbi, allows donors to enable the rabbi to do the work of tzedakah in response to the needs of individuals, organizations and the community.
ZENA & JERRY JAY KIDDISH FUND
The Zena and Jerry Jay Kiddush Fund was established in memory of Rabbi Jay's parents to help provide funds for our Saturday morning kiddushes.
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The Pergula on the JCC property is for sale. $600.00. Contact Sherry for further information
fsherryf@yahoo.com
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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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