CHAILITES
December 9, 2020
TBC Events Through December 16


Please remember that you must REGISTER for everything that you plan on attending.**

Once you click on the registration link, you will be taken to a webpage where you will enter your name and email address. Once you submit this information, you will receive a CONFIRMATION EMAIL that includes the LINK you will use to join the program and the PASSWORD that you will need to enter after clicking the link to join.

**YOU MUST SAVE THE CONFIRMATION EMAILS THAT YOU RECEIVE. THEY ARE THE ONLY PLACES WHERE THE LINKS AND PASSWORDS WILL APPEAR.**

For this issue of Chailites we are thanking the following individuals who have generously contributed to TBC during November 2020.

To everyone who has supported TBC, we offer you our most sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude.
 
Operating Fund
Randie Katz
Caitlin Read
Joan and Steve Yurman
 
High Holyday Appeal
Simon Curtis & Kiki Cahn
Barbara Dobbin
Kathy and Todd Gordon
Sunil and Jason Katz
 
Cantor's Disc. Fund
Alexander Family Foundation
Jeffrey Busch & Stephen Davis
Debra and Dennis Case
Russell Robbins & Valerie Rosenson
 
Chesed Fund
Caroline Teichman
Sisterhood Donation
Diane and Don Brown
Beverly Peterman
 
Tzedakah Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Barry Seigerman
 
Kesher Fund Card
Alexander Family Foundation
 
Sisterhood Honey
Simon Curtis & Kiki Cahn
Barbara Dobbin
Bonnie Heft
Happy Chanukah!!

It’s hard for me to believe that Chanukah begins tomorrow, Thursday December 10th! I pray you are able to join us for some of our fun and festive Chanukah happenings here at TBC that will be taking place throughout the coming weekend in celebration of the Festival of Lights! Please click below for everything you need to know about Chanukah including the Chanukah story, candle blessings, games, songs and even a few recipes! Wishing you all a Chag Urim Sameach – Happy Chanukah!!! click here
 
You can also read an article I wrote about Chanukah that appeared in the Danbury News Times by clicking here.

Cantor Harriet
Tot Shabbat / Chanukah Celebration,
and Family Service - Friday 12/11

Tot Shabbat 5:00 pm 
Family Service 6:30 pm
 
Please join Cantor Harriet at 5:00 pm for an amazing Tot Shabbat experience! Children up to age 7 or 8 along with their families are invited to welcome Shabbat together with singing, dancing, special guests and even some challah and soup making! Make sure to bring an instrument or shaker and a stuffed friend, and get ready for a fun and participatory 25-30 minutes of music, learning and laughs as we welcome Shabbat together! Click here to register for Tot Shabbat.
 
Then, don’t miss our Family Chanukah Celebration and Shabbat Service! Join us at 6:30 pm for our Communal Chanukiot Lighting, Chanukah Celebration and Family Shabbat Service! Click here to register for Chanukah Celebration Family Service. Please bring your Chanukiah (Chanukah Menorah) and 3 candles – a shamash, and candles for the first and second night of Chanukah so we can light together! After we light our Chanukiot and sing some Chanukah songs, we will welcome Shabbat together with a family friendly service geared toward families and children ages 7-107! Please join Cantor Harriet as we welcome the Festival of Lights and Shabbat together. Remember to also bring a smile and your favorite dancing shoes! 
"Chanukah Chavdalah" Under the Stars
Saturday, December 12 - 4:00 - 5:30 pm  
TBC Parking Lot

Let us gather for some safe, socially-distanced merriment! Bundle up your family for Havdalah and 3rd night Hanukkah lighting. Joyous songs will follow, led by Cantor Harriet Dunkerley. Details: You will be directed to park near the street side of our lot in every other spot. You are welcome to bring Havdalah sets, your Chanukah menorah and a little table if you wish to kindle. We suggest chairs, blankets, hot beverages, etc - anything to keep you and the kids / grandkids comfy and warm.  MASKS ARE REQUIRED. Due to Covid restrictions, our building remains closed, so we cannot provide bathrooms or latkes.

RSVP quickly for EACH person in your family/group. We are limiting this event to 50 people in total. Come, let's celebrate Hanukkah together!! Click here to RSVP
Sisterhood's Latkes and Libations
 Sunday December 13 at 5:00 pm

Grab your favorite fry pan, grater, potatoes and make sure not to run out of oil!! Bonnie Heft will share fun facts about latkes and will demonstrate! Here is your recipe. If you wish to cook along, peel potatoes and onions and have them grated and in the colander right before class. Don’t forget a favorite beverage as we fry away!!! Click here to register.

Potato Latkes Recipe from: Jewish Holiday Cookbook, by Gloria Kaufer Greene

Vegetable oil; 2 1/2 pounds of baking potatoes, preferably Russet or Idaho, peeled; 1 large or 2 small onions; 3 Large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 teaspoon salt or to taste; 1/8 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste; About 1/4 cup matzoh meal (or 2 to 3 tablespoons all purpose white flour)* (*For gluten free latkes, sub potato flour or potato starch for the flour or matzoh meal.)

Shred or grate onions. Shred or grate potatoes. (Coarse shreds produce lacier latkes. Finely grated shreds produce smoother, denser latkes.) Squeeze the excess liquid from the onions and potatoes. (A cheese cloth lining a colander works well for this.) Transfer to a bowl and add eggs, salt, pepper and matzoh meal or flour. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes. If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit more matzoh meal.

In a very large skillet, over medium heat, heat the oil 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep, until hot but not smoking. To form each latke use a large soup spoon to transfer mixture to oil and then gently flatten the mixture with the back of the spoon. Continue this until skillet is full, leaving turning room. Fry until well browned on each side and crisp. Drain well on paper towels. Serve quickly for best taste and texture. Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream. Yummy! 
Chanukah Menorah Making Extravaganza!
Sunday, December 13 - 9:30 am

Chanukah is coming, and so is our next all-school T’filah and Chanukah celebration! That means, we need YOU to participate in our Family Chanukiah (Chanukah Menorah) Making Extravaganza!!! Your Chanukiah can be functional or not and can be created from whatever materials you have in and around your house. Think outside the box… your Chanukah Menorah can be large or small, edible or inedible, 3D, 2D, even donatable (picture a giant Chanukiah made of cans of food that you can then donate to a food pantry!) What about a chocolate Menorah?!
More info to come, especially from our teachers during our next Sunday School session on 12/6. Until then though… start planning and getting creative! This event is open to our entire TBC community! The big reveal will take place on Sunday morning December 13th. Let’s see who can be the most creative with Chanukiot and Candles!
Wilton Library Zooming Hanukkah Hoopla
Stories and Fun!
Special Guest Cantor Harriet
Thursday, December 17, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm 

Join the Wilton Library, alongside special guest Cantor Harriet Dunkerley, on Zoom for a fun afternoon all about the festival of lights. You will learn about the holiday, hear stories, do a craft and get the opportunity to see a variety of menorahs. If you have a menorah at home, feel free to have it on hand to share. Registration required. Once you are registered you will be contacted to pick up your kit containing craft supplies and some fun Hanukkah treats. Zoom link will be sent out the day of the program. For children in grades Kindergarten and up. Click here to register.
Chanukah Baked Goods from Jewish Senior Services Kosher Bakery

For more information, click here.
Torah Shabbat
Friday, December 18 - 7:30 pm

Please join us for our next Torah Shabbat, Friday, December 18 at 7:30 pm! In order for all of us to have the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing Torah read, we will be chanting Torah at Shabbat services on the third Friday of each month.

We would love for YOU to be involved! Please click here to sign up to chant 3-6 verses of Torah or to chant the blessings during a future service. A list of dates is provided on the sign up sheet!
TBC's Baby Grand Piano...

We still have a bit to go to raise the $3,000 to replenish the Cantor's Discretionary Fund to cover the purchase price, moving expenses and tuning of our baby grand piano. We are about three quarters of the way there, so please consider contributing. To make a donation, please click here.
The Weekly Torah Portion
Vayeishev
[Jacob] Settled; Genesis 37:1−40:23


  • Jacob is shown to favor his son Joseph, whom the other brothers resent. Joseph has dreams of grandeur. (Genesis 37:1-11)
  • After Joseph's brothers had gone to tend the flocks in Shechem, Jacob sends Joseph to report on them. The brothers decide against murdering Joseph but instead sell him into slavery. After he is shown Joseph's coat of many colors, which had been dipped in the blood of a kid, Jacob is led to believe that Joseph has been killed by a beast. (Genesis 37:12-35)
  • Tamar successively marries two of Judah's sons, each of whom dies. Judah does not permit her levirate marriage to his youngest son. She deceives Judah into impregnating her. (Genesis 38:1-30)
  • God is with Joseph in Egypt until the wife of his master, Potiphar, accuses him of rape, whereupon Joseph is imprisoned. (Genesis 39:1-40:23). Click here to learn more
TBC Book Group

The next TBC Book Group will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, January 5 at 7:30 pm. We will be reading Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Jonathan Sacks. If you'd like to listen to a lecture by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks in which he discusses the book, please click here.
Bioethics During COVID
January 12, 2021 - 7:30 pm

The Adult Education Committee is bringing this very important and relevant lecture to TBC.

As of this writing, the US has 4% of the world’s population and 28% of the COVID cases. Virus hot spots still exist and cases are rising in most of the US at exponential levels. Many bioethical issues that once seemed hypothetical are very real now.

When we run out of vital supplies, space or equipment, what criteria may we ethically use to distribute scarce resources? What do our sacred texts tell us about such decisions? Do we assign higher value to some lives? When we don’t have enough, do we use an algorithm based on medical criteria alone? Do we use a simple lottery?

Rabbi Gerson and Dr. Gerson will review some of the approaches we might use to guide us when faced with crisis decisions. We will debate which of these criteria we think are ethical, and look at how Jewish sources would have us address ethically difficult decisions.

Dr. Gerson is a retired pediatric otolaryngologist and an active mohelet with a doctorate
in bioethics. She is a faculty member of the medical schools of Northwestern and
Tulane universities.

Rabbi Gerson served as Senior Rabbi of Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion in the
Chicago suburbs from 1979 to 2009. As Rabbi Emeritus, he teaches courses in Jewish
text, Kabbalah, Jewish thought, and comparative religion. A Fulbright scholar, Rabbi
Gerson holds master’s degrees in religion and psychology, rabbinic ordination, a
doctorate in ministry, and certification as a family therapist from the Philadelphia Child
Guidance Clinic.

All are welcome. Click here to register for this extraordinary event.
Yahrzeit Memorial Plaques at TBC

During this challenging time, we know that many of us are thinking of loved ones who have passed away. We invite you to commemorate the lives and blessings of your loved ones with a memorial plaque. A special service of dedication for the entire community will be scheduled at TBC when that again becomes possible. Ordering information is available here.
Upcoming Events and Save the Dates! 
Wilton Library Zooming Chanukah Hoopla with Cantor Harriet
Thursday, December 17, 4:00 pm, Click here to register
Torah Shabbat
Friday, December 18, 7:30 pm, click here to sign up
Dorothy Day Hospitality House
Wednesday, January 6, 2:00 pm
Sisterhood Cooking Class: Parent & Child Challah (Zoom)
Sunday, January 10, 5:00 pm
Adult Ed Program - Jewish Bioethics During COVID, Click here to register
Tuesday, January 12, 7:30 pm

See the TBC Calendar for more upcoming events
✓ Check out the TBC Event Planning Guidelines
Yahrzeits, December 11-17
  Zeicher tzaddik livrachah! 

Saturday, December 12, 2020
Saul Heft, remembered by the Heft Family
Ann Sylvia Heisler, mother of Michele Scruton
Andrew Rosenberg, father of Irene Rosenberg

Sunday, December 13, 2020
Jack Greenberg, father of David Greenberg
Morris Myers, grandfather of Jane Alexander

Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Evelyn Williams, mother of Erv Shames

Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Helen Beyda, mother of Rachel Sanderson

Thursday, December 17, 2020
Ruth Gordon, mother of Jonathan Gordon

It is traditional to light a memorial candle on the eve of the yahrzeit at home and to recite Kaddish when lighting the yahrzeit candle. It is also a custom to make donations in memory of loved ones around the time.
Help Support TBC
Contact Us

If you have TBC community news you'd like to share, please send the information to chailites@templebnaichaim.org!

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 305, Georgetown, CT 06829
Phone: 203 544-8695    
Location: 82 Portland Avenue, Wilton CT 06897 (Directions)

Cantor/Educator: Cantor Harriet Dunkerley 
President: June Mara   Office Manager/Facility Use: Denise Seccurra