Shalom!
Mah yafah yerushataynu - How Beautiful is our Heritage!
Part of the tradition of welcoming in the New Year is participating in the wisdom-of-the-ages game of trying to guess the best, the worst, the most awesome, the most tragic, of most everything from the past year. For a moment, life is neatly boxed into categories: movies, books, songs, games, color for your walls, zoom backgrounds, zoom outfits, sheet-pan dinner recipes, etc.
I found myself pausing briefly to play the game. When time feels so unmoored, framing this past year’s history in an array of hyperboles, gives a steady panoramic view that’s just entertainment. But it also can stir up memories.
Many of us, paused briefly as the year ended to create our own list of personal categories: the most treasured, the most challenging, the most heart-breaking, the most unexpected moments of the year past. Another panorama.
This brief pause provided a time to think about time and its endless morphing. Sometimes it moved in warp speed; sometimes it moved all too slowly; sometimes it kept us running in place in a re-digitized version of Groundhog Day; sometimes, in this time of COVID, it even pushed us backwards.
Then as clocks worldwide struck midnight, all that was notable, all that was our panorama of 2021, was finalized. Just like that! And without a missing a beat, on January 1, we began to list some forward-facing resolutions for 2022. I guess it’s a way of helping us make sense of time and try to manage it.
Pausing to think about time is an important part of who we are as Jews. As Abraham Heschel reminds us, Judaism’s central focus is time – to be cherished and sanctified. Certainly, an awareness of time as a gift is basic to crafting a life of purpose and making life-expanding resolutions.
But how do we approach this gift of time? What do we do?
When we read parsha Bo this Shabbat, we find a focus. As the newly liberated Israelites are about to leave Egypt, Moses speaks of time, not of the past or the present but of the distant future. Three times he refers to the future and the duty we have to educate our children, the future generations, about their redemption from Egypt and about their heritage. Time is spoken of in the future tense.
Our sages understand this parsha to mean that we also must commit to telling this story to our children, educating them, and giving them their identity. The focus is on realizing that what we do now – how we spend our time now – will impact the continuum of our Jewish legacy for the distant future.
We educate by telling the collective story of where we came from and what our tasks are in this world. We also educate by embodying it in what we choose to do. This is the heart and soul of Central Great Lakes Region (CGLR) and Women’s League (WL). This is how we use the gift of time. This is how time crafts our life purpose.
WL’s provide countless opportunities for all of us to learn through programs like: Ma’kom B’yahad, or conversations with distinguished leaders, or inspiring workshops, or social action initiatives like Stock the Shelves. WL provides a pathway forward with an array of programs through which we all can discover a way to live with a deep sense of purpose.
Together with like-minded women, we relentlessly explore the many facets of our beautiful heritage. Inspired by these discoveries, we embrace the challenge to sustain the continuum of our Jewish Heritage well into the distant future.
May the dynamic spirit that each of you brings to CGLR continue to keep the flame of this commitment to ever bright!
Warmest wishes to you and your loved ones for a healthy, filled-with -love
secular New Year 2022.
Shabbat Shalom,
Pam
Pamela Schlosberg
Central Great Lakes Region President
Women's League for Conservative Judaism
847.433.7546 (h); 847.691.8991 (c)
|
|
Lead by Encouraging the Heart - Some Thoughts
Pull out your daily To Do List and add Celebrate Success. Then think about your Board members, or committees, or those terrific women who are always there for your Affiliate/Sisterhood and reach out to say thank you. Turn that spotlight on someone – even for a moment.
· Regularly celebrating success is not about your annual ceremonies or fun-and-games events, though they truly have their place and time. As a leader, regularly celebrating success is more personal because it’s how you personally connect a recognition to something that was done.
· Celebrating success is an immediate response. It’s how you link the cherished values of your Affiliate/Sisterhood with what a member does.
· Recognize someone for a job well done. It only takes a moment but the effect lasts a long time. An email or a call shows that you appreciate the time and effort someone gave to your Affiliate/Sisterhood.
· Give positive feedback after an event to the committee members who deserve some credit for their commitment to the success of an event or program.
· Celebrating success one thank-you at a time builds a spirit of community among your members.
· Your Affiliate’s/Sisterhood’s traditional celebrations and rituals, when they come from the heart, build a sense of collective identity and community connection that’s priceless and can carry your Affiliate/Sisterhood through the toughest of challenges.
Show that you cherish and value the work of your volunteers. It’s about nurturing a culture of appreciation. And that’s a good thing!
|
|
|
|
|
Torah Fund supports programs and scholarships at the five Conservatives/Masorti global institutes
of higher education.
|
|
The 80th Anniversary of Torah Fund
Numbers can have a lot of different meanings in Judaism. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds with a different number. The Hebrew letter Pey corresponds with 80 and means prayer. The number eighty is mentioned many times throughout the Torah. The first time is when it talks about Moses being 80 years old, strength and long life. In Pirkei Avot 5 it talks about what all the different ages mean, with the age of eighty meaning “strength”. Torah Fund is 80 years stronger and getting stronger each day because of our mission and all our volunteers.
Throughout this 80th year there will be many ways to celebrate our successes in Torah Fund. There will be a special Torah Fund 80th anniversary banner to be used for publicity, a new invitation shell, a way to give an $80 pledge on the website for Torah fund, new devrai Torah’s to be used regarding the 80th anniversary, and much more to come. I look forward to celebrating our 80th year of Torah Fund with you this new year!
|
|
Happy Secular New Year and Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca Goldwasser
CGLR Vice President of Torah Fund
|
|
We have been reading about the plagues and this week,Parashat Bo tells of the last plagues and the first Passover. I am always reminded during this time of year of the Passovers that I spent with my family. Although my three sisters and all of our children and (in some cases) grandchildren are spread over 7 states, we try to get as many of us together as we can for Seder. Before COVID began, we were all planning on coming to Texas to my house to celebrate. Unfortunately, because of this modern-day plague, we have had to hold our Seders on Zoom. Having the Seder on Zoom was a small pleasure compared to being able to celebrate them in person. There is something about a crowded room, all singing together, that just does not measure up to what we can do on Zoom.
Geoffrey, my husband, and I did manage to visit my parents in Charleston, South Carolina, for both of my parent’s birthdays last year. We went there in our RV - a three-day trip from Texas and stayed for about a month. That was the first time that my parents saw any of the family in person for over a year!
I recently returned from a visit to Charleston and was joined by my three sisters to celebrate our mother’s (significant) birthday which was on December 21. It was so nice to finally be able to get together in person, even though our children and grandchildren were not able to join us.
I enjoy seeing all of my Women’s League friends over Zoom for all of our programs. When COVID first began, going online to Makom B’Yachad (it was called Psalms, then) was the only real contact that I had on a daily basis with anyone. I made new friends and saw old ones every day and that kept me sane when I couldn’t go anywhere or have anyone come to my house. Now, I still can see those friends three days a week as well as on other WLCJ programs, like the “How to Live Forever series” or the “Jewish Women in Film” series that I enjoy. Those programs bring me together with friends but it warms my heart even more to be able to actually be able to hug my parents, sisters, and brothers-in-law. I keep hoping that next Passover will again see the whole family united. I pray that this plague of COVID won’t last too much longer! I hope that you were also able to see your families over the recent holidays and had as much joy as I did with mine.
Wishing all of you a very happy secular New Year.
Shabbat Shalom to you all,
Marsha
Marsha Strongin
WLCJ Treasurer
|
|
Women's League App is BACK! |
|
We brought back the WLCJ App. You can easily connect to Women’s League anytime and anywhere – right on your smart phone or tablet! The Women’s League App makes access to Women’s League news and resources effortless.
It's available for download on all devices (iPhone/iPad/Google Play/Android.
|
|
Parashat Bo Exodus 10:1-13:16 Haftarah Jeremiah 46:13-28 - January 8, 2022
Parashat Bo continues the story of the Exodus, beginning with the description of the last of the plagues: locusts, then darkness; both times Pharaoh agrees to let them go, and once again changes his mind. Finally, there is the death of the firstborn. God instructs the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts; for 7 days they are to eat unleavened bread.
In the haftarah Jeremiah issues 2 prophecies of doom against Egypt, predicting its downfall at the hands of the Babylonian King Nebuchednezzar. Egypt will be punished for having enslaved Israel. These messages are followed by 2 messages containing the promise that Israel will be released from Babylonian captivity.
The Torah portion and haftarah are connectedB'yachad very strongly by language. The name of theparashah, Bo, comes from the verb lavo, to come. This same verb appears in various forms 5 times in the haftarah (lavo in verse 13; yavo, it will come, v. 18; ba, comes, twice, v. 20 and again in v. 21; ba-u, they come, v. 22). There is also a homonym, bo (spelled with a vav instead of an aleph), meaning “on him”, appearing in verse 25.
The first plague in the parashah is locusts; the enemy in the haftarah is described as coming down like locusts (v. 23).
Finally, and most importantly, in the parashah, God finally exacts punishment on the Pharaoh of Egypt for refusing to let the people of Israel go free, demonstrating very vividly Hashem’s power and authority over the gods of Egypt; in the haftarah, Jeremiah foretells that the God of Israel will inflict punishment “on Pharaoh—on Egypt, her gods and her kings…” (v. 25) The prophet speaks of the end of Egypt’s reign.
Reading the parashah and the haftarah together delivers a powerful message: ours is a God who keeps promises.
submitted by
Rabbi Margie Cella
WLCJ Educator
|
|
Consulting Services Workshop #1: Evolving Job Descriptions for Success - Sunday, January 9th @ 3 PM ET |
|
Questions?
Contact
Renee Ravich
Consulting Services Chair, Sisterhood Support Chair
|
|
This program is open to anyone interested in learning about Leadership possibilities.
Looking for new leadership for your Sisterhood affiliates but not sure what to do? Women’s League is offering two workshops presented by our Consulting Services team and open to all members in January and February 2022.
1st Workshop: Evolving Job Descriptions for Success -- defining and tweaking for today’s realities. It will take place on Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 3:00 - 4:30 PM ET.
A Women's League training program to support all regions and Sisterhood affiliates by the Consulting Services of WLCJ.
Coming soon:
2nd Workshop: Exploring Leadership -- finding alternatives to the traditional leadership structure.
It will take place on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 7:00 - 8:30 PM ET.
Separate registration is required to attend either workshop.
|
|
Joint Program of WLCJ and WOW: Who Owns the Western Wall? - Sunday, January 30 - 12 PM ET
|
|
Responding to the Story Worth questions has been an amazing journey filled with forgotten recollections and wonderful memories. This really is a wonderful gift from us to our children and future generations. Through our books they will learn so much more about who we are and from where they came. We are so happy to be doing this. I just wish it would have been available for my parents.
-Cory Schneider
The cost for the weekly questions email and hard-cover book is currently $99. For more information and to receive a $10 discount click below:
|
|
Women's League for Conservative Judaism gets a donation by using the link.
StoryWorth.com is a wonderful way to enjoy memories and reflections and share them with future generations.
By signing up for one year of storytelling, you or a loved one (if you give a gift subscription) will receive a weekly question meant to stir up long-buried memories or unearth perspectives previously unknown. At the end of the year, the stories are collected into one hardcover book, complete with photos and captions (that can be included with the stories).
- Questions (that may be customized) are sent by email each week.
- The order of the stories can be changed
- Pictures and captions may be included
- Customized full-color hardcover designs are available
- Choose between black and white or color.
- Multiple copies for other family members can be ordered
- Each story as it is written may be sent via email to whoever you would like.
|
|
Key to Calendar:
WLCJ Events in Black ~
CGLR Events in Blue
Sunday, January 9, 12PM ET Individual Member Gathering
Sunday, January 9, 3PM ET Consulting Services Workshop #1 - Evolving Job Descriptions for Success
Monday, January 10, 8PM ET CLGR Executive Committee Meeting
Tuesday, January 11, 1PM ET Campus Antisemitism Event
Saturday, January 15, WL Shabbat-Parashat Beshalach
Wednesday, January 19, 7PM ET Open Board Meeting - Dvar Torah by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
Thursday , January 20, 7:30PM ET Personal Conversations - Discovering and
Sharing Genetic Information
Monday, January 24, 3PM ET Jews in Film - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Monday, January 24, 8PM ET Torah Funds Stand with Israel
Wednesday, January 26, Noon ET Masorti Women's Day of Study--Women Face Challenges through Study, Reflection, Renewal and Sharing
Thursday, January 27, 7PM ET WL Reads-
Elyssa Friendland Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
Sunday, January 30, 12PM ET WLCJ & WOW - Who Owns the Wall?
Monday, January 31, 7:30PM ET Mishpachah: The Modern Jewish Family
Sunday, February 6, 2:30PM ET CGLR Creative Judaic Arts Event- Zentangles
Sunday, February 13, Noon ET. Masorti Women's Day of Study--Women Face Challenges through Study, Reflection, Renewal and Sharing
|
|
Psalms, Pirkei Avot,
and Kaddish
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays
12PM Noon Eastern Time;
11AM Central Time
Meeting ID: 630 830 287
Password: 875936
Dial by your location:
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York);
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose);
+1 647 558 0588 Canada;
+972 55 330 1762 Israel; +972 3 978 6688
|
|
KEHILLAH KEDOSHAH
As a Kehillah Kedoshah — a holy community — Women's League observes the obligations of United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism and does NOT do any business on Shabbat and Holidays. Please refrain from e-mails and posting on social media on these days. Todah Rabbah.
|
|
|
|
Mazel Tov
to
Israel’s newest
Conservative Rabbis
Nava Brenshtin Meiersdorf,
Eitan Krul,
Amirit Rosen
Danny Weininger
from the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary
Yom Huledet Sameach
(Happy Birthday)
to Debbi Green,
Past CGLR President
on January 13, 2022.
|
|
Central Great Lakes Region Board |
|
 |
Executiv13.e Committee:
President
Pam Schlosberg
Communications
Laurie B. Davis
Education
Fern Schwartz
Membership
Gilda Schwartz
Program
Robin Beth Lash
Torah Fund
Rebecca Goldwasser
Secretary
Sandy Carleton
Treasurer
Wanda Pitzele
Financial Secretary
Marjorie Maxwell
Parliamentarian/ IPP
Fran Hildebrandt
|
|
|
|
Board of Directors:
Communication/
Social Media
Paula Ferguson
Communication/Website
Rachel Ferber
Education/ Israel
Open
Membership Service
Cynthia Lerner
Member Support
Marlene Ostrow
Presidents Council
Laurie B. Davis
Program/Books
Renee Kaplan
Creative Judaic Arts
Lynda Abraham-Braff
Spring Conference
TBD
****************************
Nominating
Fran Hildebrandt
WLCJ Board Representing CGLR
Rebecca Goldwasser
Fran Hildebrandt
Robin Beth Lash
Cynthia Lerner
Wanda Pitzele
Pam Schlosberg
|
|
|
|
|
|
Communication VP/ Wave Editor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
