September 18 2020 l 29 Elul 5780
CONGREGATION BEIT T'SHUVAH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Dear Congregants,

It’s finally here…5781! Shanah tovah! The message is simple for today: Join us for our Rosh haShanah services! 

Here are some important details for you:

Services begin Friday night at 7:00 PM, NOT at 6:30 PM

• Our regular services have been abridged to make them more ZOOM-friendly. They are each between 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

       Friday Night —     7:00 PM
       Saturday Part 1 — 10:00 am
       Saturday Part 2 — 12 noon (We begin with Torah)
       Sunday Part 1 —  10:00 am
       Sunday Part 2 —  12 noon (We begin with Torah and will also blow the shofar)

• We have created .pdfs of all of our services which are available to everyone who are members or who have purchased High Holiday tickets. You will want to download them early so that you are prepared for services.

ZOOM meeting room is unique to Rosh haShanah. They are NOT the same link as our regular Shabbat services. If you are not a member and want to participate in our Rosh haShanah services, contact Jillian right away:  jcoventry@beittshuvah.org

• IF YOU HAVE NOT YET PURCHASED TICKETS OR MEMBERSHIP AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND SERVICES, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Music, Torah, celebration, recovery, and community. This is Rosh haShanah at Beit T’Shuvah. Join us and help us make this a happy and sweet New Year!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Micha'el
THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION
By: Rabbi Kerry Chaplin

It’s hard to be apart at this time of year. Many of us would be planning menus: who will bring what, and is anyone going to make gefilte fish from scratch? Elders might be teaching family recipes to younger generations, and at Beit T’Shuvah, we’d be together in the sanctuary listening to the choir and cantor stir our hearts with compassion and hearing (fellow) residents share their stories - really our stories - of coming to truth and t’shuvah

But this year is different. Children can’t visit parents because of COVID risks. We’ll be on Zoom at specific times without the energy of physical proximity. Residents will be eating together, but not families.

A regular participant in our 6-day-a-week meditations, CoVital, said that she was brought to tears of loneliness for the first time during this pandemic, as she and her sister planned how to have a virtual Rosh HaShanah together.

This might be a lonely time. 

And that loneliness might remind us of being in addiction when we skipped the holidays or skipped out on family. 

So we say to one another: HOLD ON. We shout it. Rabbi Micha’el holds up a sign on Friday nights. We...click here to read more.
SHABBAT THIS WEEK
SOBER BIRTHDAYS

We are still celebrating birthdays each week on Zoom!
To sign up to take a Sober Birthday cake at Beit T'Shuvah, click here.
SHABBAT SPONSORS

If you would like to sponsor shabbat at
Beit T'Shuvah, click here.
BTS THRIFT STORE CORNER
Check out the BTS Thrift Store’s new e-commerce website. We have a wide range of items starting as low as $15! Shop, donate and share with your friends. *Shipping is available upon request*

TRIBUTE DONATIONS
Tribute donations are a wonderful way of marking life cycle events for your loved ones and friends and supporting Beit T'Shuvah.

Anonymous with gratitude in honor of Miriam Y
Barbara Blake honor of Andrew's one-year sober birthday
Cathy Galper in honor of Lynarion and Alex Spellman's marriage and wedding
Shane Snoke in honor of Nina Jacobson
Susan Shapiro in memory of Eleanor Lubert
Susan & Arnold Coran in memory of Kent Sherman
The Krolls in memory of Marisa Weiss


If you are interested in sending a beautiful tribute, please contact Development . You can also send a tribute online by Clicking Here. Beit T'Shuvah will promptly send a card to the family or friend you are recognizing. 
OUR SINCEREST CONDOLENCES

...to the Bill Cohen and his family on the loss of his father, Stanley Cohen


If you are interested in sending a beautiful tribute, please contact Development . You can also send a tribute online by Clicking Here. Beit T'Shuvah will promptly send a card to the family or friend you are recognizing. 
THIS WEEK'S SPOTLIGHT
Villond C.

One of the first things people notice about Villond C., a resident here at Beit T’Shuvah, is his culinary skills, serving up his signature breakfast several mornings a week. The one thing people don’t notice about him is that he’s actually “really shy at heart,” despite his quick smile and friendly demeanor.
 
Villond grew up both with his mother in Southern California and father in Louisiana. He describes his childhood as fun and exciting, adding that he was a little “spoiled.” One of the lessons we all learn here is that addictive behaviors can take many forms, and although Villond doesn’t identify as a drug addict, he acknowledges that the addictive drug lifestyle was his downfall. “I was addicted to the street life, to the fast money.” He started selling marijuana at age twelve, moving to selling crack cocaine by age fifteen. “I just thought drugs and alcohol were addictions. I never realized that the adrenaline rush, the fast money, and fast-paced life can also become an addiction.”
 
Drug dealing eventually led to Villond’s arrest for one count first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder, six months after his eighteenth birthday, and six months after his high school graduation. After his conviction, he spent over thirty-two years incarcerated, before...click here to continue reading.
BEIT T'SHUVAH GOES VIRTUAL
To stay up to date on all virtual programming and for more information go to www.beittshuvah.org/bts-events/virtual 
Home for the Holidays
Join us this year for livestreamed, interactive services you won't forget. Leave behind your old notions of High Holidays as mandatory and monotonous. At Congregation Beit T’Shuvah, the number one concern is uplifting your soul (even from your couch). 

Tickets for High Holiday services are included in membership dues. If you would like to simply purchase tickets for this year’s virtual service, tickets are a suggested donation of $36 per person, per service. 

Click here to renew your membership and/or purchase tickets.

Please e-mail Jillian Coventry for "pay what you can" options.
Beit T’Shuvah Custom Masks are Here!
Stay safe while supporting Beit T’Shuvah with masks custom made by Creative Matters. Perfect gifts for alumni, staff, residents, people in recovery or community members!

$10 per mask

Designs:
One Day At A Time
In This Together

Click HERE to order!
Pandemic Parenting
BTS Zoom Family Support Group! Whether your loved one is still in treatment or they have already moved on to the next chapter of their journey, we would like to provide a platform in which families get to talk about their shared experiences and wisdom.

This group is for families of our current and former residents, no need to RSVP, just drop in!

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
Friday Night Services
Friday night services held via zoom at 6:30pm PT.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
Saturday Morning Services
Saturday morning Prayer and Meditation at 10:30am PT.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
Spiritual Class
Come learn on Saturday mornings at 9:30am PT with Rabbi Micha'el Akiba.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
Challah Is Back!
Baked T'Shuvah's founder Jackie Elkins is licensed by the state and you can now order the Baked T'Shuvah challah you know and love!

Pick up at BTS. Must prepay.

Available flavors: Plain, Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel or Raisin. Contact Amy Abrams to place your order - orders need to be placed no later than Wednesday!
Sober Birthdays
We are still celebrating birthdays each week on our Shabbat Zoom.

To sign up to take a cake, please contact Jillian.

If you missed celebrating your birthday this year and would still like to take a cake via Zoom, contact Jillian.
CoVital
Daily at 9am PT. Join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/539925563317229
Life In Uncertain Times
Life in Uncertain Times: Coping Strategies Before, During, and After Corona. With Rabbi Joseph. Mondays from 12-1pm PT/3-4pm ET.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
#NotMyCorona
#NotMyCorona. Recovery-Minded Spiritual Learning with Beit T’Shuvah and the T’Shuvah Center. Wednesdays. 1pm PT/4pm ET.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
To Life
BTS community AA meeting: Thursdays at 7pm.

For Zoom link and more info, please click here.
100 Blessings
Beit T’Shuvah and the Elaine Breslow Institute invite you participate in this spiritual challenge!

Virtual Kaddish Calls
Thursdays. 9-9:30am PT/12-12:30pm ET.

A powerful kaddish experience led by the Lab/Shul community. They have invited our Beit T’Shuvah community to join them.

https://labshul.org/event/virtual-mourners-kaddish-call/2019-08-29/

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Past newsletters are now available online. Please click here to view.

For anyone that shops at Ralphs, please consider registering your phone with their community care program and select Beit T'Shuvah as your charity. 

For anyone that purchases items on Amazon, all you have to do is go to Amazon Smile and choose Beit T'Shuvah as your charity and a percentage of each purchase will be given back to us.

Direct line to make monetary donations is 310-280-3699 or visit our website