Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island E-Letter
July 16, 2021
7 Av 5781
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The JCC Office will be open for in-person business Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM - 2 PM. Visitors must be fully vaccinated and wear a mask in the building. |
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A TORAH MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI
Recently, a congregant sent me a disturbing article from the Times of Israel bearing the following headline: Genocide, Apartheid? A Poll Israel Cannot Allow Itself To Ignore.
The article begins:
Nobody who knows the reality in Israel could possibly believe it is committing genocide against the Palestinians. Yet 22% of US Jews apparently do. Alarm bells should be ringing
While it appears that the sample for the survey was small (800), the information gleaned is concerning. Effectively it reveals that there is a sizable segment of the American Jewish community that is willing to use words to describe the Jewish homeland that are, frankly, unfathomable.
The author of the article, David Horovitz made the following observation:
….I find it hard to believe that anyone with genuine intellectual honesty can definitively brand Israel an apartheid state — though I know people who do. And I truly do not see how anybody who has invested the smallest modicum of effort in understanding our realities can determine that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. Yet that’s what lots of American Jews apparently now consider to be the case.
Horovitz explains that Israel, itself, is, in part, to blame for the misperceptiobn. Among other things, he concludes that the Israeli government has essentially ignored its diplomatic corps over the last several years. It therefor is losing the public information dissemination battle.
While Horovitz points his cursor at the Israeli government, I would suggest that the bigger culprit is a well-funded blitz of information intended to discredit Israel. This information comes from people and institutions who actively seek to discredit Israel and do it harm. For some reason, much of the American Jewish population is willing to accept unsupported claims made by people who have no interest in uncovering the truth.
It is up to us, you and me, to provide to as many people as possible, the tools to rebut the lies that are told. This means that we need to do a better job of educating ourselves and our family and peers. But this is old news.
The real problem is figuring out why some American Jews are willing to accept, at face value, horribly negative (and false) information about Israel.
For this, I am afraid we need to look at the story of Tisha B’Av which starts this Saturday evening, July 17th. Tisha B’Av acknowledges the destruction of the First and Second Temples on that date, the Ninth of Av. Relative to the destruction of the Second Temple, by the Romans in 70 CE, our sages taught that it was destroyed due to the sin of “sinat chinam” — “baseless hatred” that one Jew had for another.
When American Jews call Israel Apartheid, or Genocidal, without any proof of either, it may not be textbook “baseless hatred”; however, it almost certainly is “baseless misunderstanding”. To be clear, one can acknowledge that Israel, like the United States or any country for that matter, is not perfect. However, imperfection is not a basis for making unsupported, and unsupportable claims.
Might I recommend, as we get ready for Shabbat and listen to Eicha (the Book of Lamentations) after Shabbat ends, that we call on all individuals and organizations to put an end to Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred. Instead we should each dedicate our efforts to creating a world filled with “ahavat chinam” — unqualified love for one another."
Shabbat Shalom and Tzom Kal – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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SHABBAT SHALOM
Candle Lighting Time
Friday evening,
July 16, 2021
8:04 PM
So. Ocean County
JOIN US FOR SERVICES
Shabbat Chazon
(Shabbat before Tish'a B'Av)
Friday evening
July 16, 2021
6:00 PM
SHABBAT IN THE LOT
in the north parking lot.
Bring a chair
and
on Zoom
IN CASE OF RAIN THE SERVICE WILL BE ON
ZOOM ONLY.
LOOK FOR AN EMAIL.
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Saturday morning
July 17, 2021
Services
9:00 AM
In Person Services
and
Zoom Service
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Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Torah Reading
Parashat Devarim
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
Here is the Parshah
A Lombardi will be reading Torah
Please respond to this email if you wish to have an aliyah this Shabbat.
Haftorah
Isaiah 1:1 - 1:27
Here is the Haftorah
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Saturday evening
9:00 PM
Havdallah followed by
Tish B'Av Services
at the JCC
and on Zoom
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:
Sunday - Friday
Shacharit Service
8:15 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
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GUIDELINES FOR INDOOR SERVICES
- All attendees 18 years old and over must be fully vaccinated.
- Attendees must show proof of vaccination (card or on their phone).
- Masks must be worn indoors.
- Children under 18 who are not vaccinated need to wear a mask.
- Singing and participating in service is allowed.
- Social distancing of one chair between each group will be observed.
Please use the front door Saturday morning to enter. The handicapped door is also available.
NO SIGN UP NEEDED FOR SHABBAT SERVICES
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On Tisha b’Av, the ninth of Av, one of the ways that the Jewish people demonstrate their mourning over the loss of both Holy Temples is by refraining from Torah study that brings pleasure to those who study it. Therefore, it is considered appropriate to read only somber texts, specifically: 1) Talmudic sections dealing with the destruction of the Temples, and the laws of mourning and excommunication (such as those found in the Talmud Moed Katan), 2) the Book of Job, 3) the admonitions and rebukes of the Book of Jeremiah and 4) the Book of Lamentations.
Eicha, as Lamentations is called in Hebrew, is actually read publicly during the evening service on the night of Tisha b’Av. The five chapters of Eicha are chanted aloud in a mournful and dolorous tone…so that even those who do not understand the exact words of the text can sense the devastation and despair expressed by the prophet.
Attributed to the Prophet Jeremiah (although his name is not found in the book to confirm his authorship), Eicha contains five poetic laments focusing on the destruction of the First Holy Temple. However, upon reading Eicha one will also discover hints to the destruction of the Second Temple. The chapters (except for the last) are written using Hebrew alphabet acrostics (each verse starting with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet in sequence).
Tisha b’Av, the fast of the ninth of Av, begins at sundown Saturday night.
from "Jewish Treats"
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.THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
MONDAY 7/19
10:00 AM Chumash Class
TUESDAYS
Open Mah jongg/Canasta
12:30 - 4 PM
THURSDAY 7/15
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 CLASSES FOR THIS WEEK
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JULY FRIDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE
July 16 – Shabbat in the Lot
July 23 – Shabbat in the Lot
July 30 – Shabbat on the Beach – Spray Beach
YOU CAN JOIN ALL SERVICES ON ZOOM
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Our second Shabbat on the Beach was held last Friday night in Loveladies. As usual it is a very special way to welcome Shabbat. Our next Shabbat on the Beach will be on 24th Street in Spray Beach on July 30th. |
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Most of the folks come to Shabbat on Beach schlepping their chairs over the dunes. Last Friday night two kite surfers joined the service by air. |
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SUMMER CONCERT
It was great to enjoy the music of the talented Julian and Dominique last Sunday night in person and on Zoom. Highlights of the evening where the JCC Men's version of The Temptations and the ladies chorus line. Thank you to David Shatz for putting this program together.
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Thank you to all the members who helped with the JULY BAZAAR
and those who stopped by to browse and buy.
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THE WOMEN'S AUXILIARY
OF THE
JCC OF LBI
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and click on the honey link.
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JCC WOMENS AUXILIARY: BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION
THE 4th WEDNESDAY, AT 4:00 PM
Discussion Leader to be Determined
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human - just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined - but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.
Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele - not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.
Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the 20th century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart - especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their children attend to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.
But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: first, Rami’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. Rami and Bassam had been raised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace—and with their one small act, start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict.
This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too.
With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personal recollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to begin another—one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers’ moving story at its heart.
ORDER YOUR BOOK NOW AND START READING TODAY!
Click here to borrow book from the Ocean County Library.
If you can lead our book discussion on Wednesday, July 28th or Wednesday, August 25th, please email dschweig19@gmail.com
A Zoom link will be sent shortly before the event.
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Thursday evening, July 22 at 7:00 - Eric Mandel - "What Is Next After The Gaza War?"
Tuesday, July 27 at 7:45 - "Susan and Friends - The Men Speak Out' - An Interview with Donald Cohen author of "The Inside Ride: A Journey into Manhood"
Mah jongg every Tuesday at 12:30 PM beginning 7/6
Poker Nite Sunday night at 7:00 PM beginning 7/18
SEE DETAILS BELOW
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"SUSAN AND FRIENDS: THE MEN SPEAK UP"
PART II
Tuesday, July 27 at 7:45 - "Susan and Friends - The Men Speak Out' - An Interview by Don Pripstein with Donald Cohen author of "The Inside Ride: A Journey into Manhood"
An extended and fearless exploration on the meaning of manhood in contemporary Western culture—at a moment in time in which both Fatherhood and Manhood have become endangered concepts. Pointing out the need for strong male relationships and guidance, this book offers an essential prescription for the psychological health of modern Western societies, which have lost the thread of traditional cultures and their time-honored rites of passage. The extensive letter exchange between father and son demonstrates intimacy and honesty in analyzing and exploring the often tumultuous events of their lives. Trained in two different psychological disciplines, their interaction provides the reader a look at the complexity of growing up in America's fast-changing culture, offering invaluable insights for both children and parents.
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THIS WEEK'S YAHRZEITS
The following names will be read at Friday night services.
Rudi Cohen
Irwin Moses*
Joseph Schiller
Leslie Barrish
Elaine Gonsalves
Tola Herszenberg
Nellie Lichtenberg
Jennie Oxfeld
Jeannette Shapiro
Sam Glasser
Arthur Goldman
Abbey Koseff
Benjamin Price
Rebecca Rosner
Nathan Stone*
Howard Tittlebaum
Evelyn Bookman*
Estelle Carr
Max Dreyfus*
Shirley Fischer
Sol Daniel Gussin
Doris Morton
Clara Waxman*
Herb Josephson*
Emil Mendlow
Esther Saden
Carl Sher*
Sidney Levine
Sadie Taub*
Frank Fink*
Alvin Hurwitz*
Bernard Miller
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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. |
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SHARE YOUR NEWS
AND PICTURES
CONTACT:
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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Irving Gross
July 18
Robin Kanis
July 18
Paula Lieber
July 19
Susanna Lachs Adler
July 20
Robert Simandl
July 21
Martin Flumenbaum
July 22
Edward Herman
July 23
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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 - NEW INFORMATION !!!!!!!
Herb and Selma z”l Shapiro established the first individual Endowment Fund in memory of his father, as part of the JCC’s Endowment Fund portfolio. Judith z”l & Donald Pripstein joined the Shapiros and established The Pripstein Family Endowment Fund.
As recently reported, Don Pripstein pledged another $50,000 to establish The Judith & Donald Pripstein Endowment Fund.
As a result of Don’s letter, Harold Farin has stepped forward and has established “The Farin Family Endowment Fund”. This Fund will join with the three others as part of the JCC Endowment Fund portfolio. Other members are encouraged to also provide for the future of our JCC by establishing similar funds.
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 named funds will be joined together to be part of the Endowment Fund portfolio.
Endowment funds are necessary to ensure the continuation and well being of our congregation. All members are encouraged to help this important effort by contributing to this portfolio, whether as a specific named individual fund, or as a general donation. The donation can be spread over one, two, or three years, and can be paid via check, donation of appreciated stock, wills, or from the RMD of your IRA or 401K account. 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 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 OPEN TUESDAY AD THURSDAYS
FROM 10 - 2
CONTINUE TO 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
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
Graphics by
Irene Babst
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