Valley JCC Newsletter - December 2022

The December edition includes:

 Valley JCC's Year In Review, "Shine A Light" Hanukkah Candle GiveAway,

John Paul Thornton's "Chagall: The Meaning of Spiritual Art",

Fall Basketball & Soccer Clinics, Winter Basketball League, Men's Club, Readers Club, Meet Susan Menkes & Gregg Garfinkel, Holiday Boutique

Letter From Jeff Rubin

Executive Director, Valley JCC



It's hard to believe the 2022 calendar year is coming to an end.

I wanted to take a moment and thank the community, our supporters, our new partners, volunteers, committee members, Board of Directors, members and staff for making this year such an amazing one for VJCC. As I look back, I am so proud of all that we have been able to accomplish and look forward to the future and being an integral part of our community. 


Valley JCC

“Year 2022 In Review”


January 

  • The Wayne League Sports Programming was developed
  • Bingo Night and Trivia Night were held online 
  • Arranged for Partnerships with JCC Alliance
  • Monthly virtual meetings for Current Events and Readers Club
  • Mah Jongg on Mondays began at The Village at Northridge
  • Men’s Club visited Simi Valley Museum of Military History


February

  • Adult Basketball League began playing games
  • Maccabi Tryouts were held
  • Men’s Club visited Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for an FBI Exhibit

 

March

  • Valley JCC hired a part time Marketing and Program Coordinator
  • Men’s Club met 
  • The Stand restaurant fundraiser
  • Bridge Lessons were held virtually
  • Trivia Night was held virtually

 

April

  • Our first Monthly Newsletter was published
  • We participated in California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel’s “Day of Service” at Pierce College
  • Enjoyed Valley JCC annual Galathon fundraiser, a virtual event with entertainment and dignitaries
  • Men’s Club went to Lumber Jack’s Axe Throwing

 

May

  • We hired a part-time Sports Coordinator
  • Today’s Montessori held it’s Graduation
  • Men’s Club 
  • Table Tennis began

 

June

  • Summer Camp at Today’s Montessori began
  • Men’s Club 
  • Valley JCC was awarded a Grant from Mount Sinai Memorial Park
  • Valley JCC was awarded a Grant from Southern California Gas Company
  • Valley JCC was awarded a Grant from Los Angeles County through Shiela Kuehl 
  • Adult and Youth Basketball Summer League games began
  • John Paul Thornton’s virtual art history class: “Art In Israel” 
  • Online Speaker Series: “Venturing Out After Covid”


July

  • Basketball Camp began
  • Maccabi “Send Off Meeting” before the team traveled to San Diego for 2022 Maccabi Games
  • Men’s Club
  • Bridge Club “Meet and Greet”
  • Dining Out 


August

  • Basketball Camp continued
  • Our team participated and medaled in 2022 Maccabi Games in San Diego
  • Parent “Meet and Greet” held at Today’s Montessori
  • Today’s Montessori School Year 2022/2023 began
  • Party was held for the Maccabi team
  • Men’s Club
  • John Paul Thornton’s virtual art history class: “Jewish Artists of Paris”
  • Label’s Deli fundraiser

 

September

  • Fall Basketball Youth and Adult Leagues began playing
  • David Labkovsky Project interactive in-person presentation took place at Temple Aliyah


October

  • “Shabbat Under the Stars” at Today’s Montessori
  • Valley JCC “2nd Annual Wine and Cheese” fundraising garden party
  • Basketball and Soccer Clinics began
  • Men’s Club met
  • John Paul Thornton’s virtual art history class: “Chagall: The Art of Dreams”
  • Self-Defense For the Soul” class held at The Village at Northridge
  • Canasta Class began
  • Lemonade restaurant fundraiser
  • Trivia Night, online
  • Book Festival
  • League of Women Voters online presentation

 

November

  •  Survivors Legacy

 

December

  • Holiday Boutique held at The Village in Northridge
  • "Shine a Light Giveaway" of Hanukkah Candles
  • John Paul Thornton’s virtual art history class: “Chagall: The Master of Spiritual Art”
  • The Art of Hanukkah, online
  • The Stand restaurant fundraiser


To continue to offer and expand upon our resources and programs, we need your help. Please consider donating to VJCC. 


VJCC is a 501(c)(3) organization, so your contribution is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please click on the following link, https://www.valleyjcc.org/donate and go right to our donation page to make your year-end contribution today.


We are all in this together. 

Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy new year. 

Thank You,

Jeff

Join Us At Our Annual Holiday Boutique

Sunday, December 4th

Rain or Shine - Event Indoors


Message From Ollie Haas,

Valley JCC President, Board of Directors


Did you know that Jewish Community Centers have a rich history stemming back to 1854 when the first Hebrew Young Men’s Literary Association was established in Baltimore to support Jewish immigrants?


Our Valley Jewish Community Center (VJCC) continues to support Jewish families and the community from the youngest preschool children to young adults, parents, and seniors. We are a Center for all!


If you’re the parent of an 18 months to five-year-old, you might enroll your child in Today’s Montessori. For youth, 5-15 years, we offer after school enrichment programs and the always popular JCC Maccabi Games for teens 13-16 years. VJCC offers a variety of programs and activities for adults and seniors, including book reviews, fitness classes, youth and adult basketball leagues, health care and prevention classes, Mah Jongg, trivia nights, table tennis for adults to help delay memory loss, social groups, cultural programs and day trips, and a Men’s Club.


The VJCC staff and support team continue to give tirelessly and unselfishly of themselves to provide a home for social, educational, and recreational programs for families and individuals that express Jewish values. To further our mission, we are working to find a new facility location, develop additional community partners and expand upon our geographical footprint into the Santa Clarita and Conejo Valleys.


With your help, your generosity, and your kindness we can continue to make a world of difference for our community. With your support, we can all make new friends, new memories, and have a future to look forward to. Because with you as our partner, we can continue to make a difference and create community.


To continue to offer and expand upon our resources and programs, we need your help. Please consider donating to VJCC. VJCC is a 501(c)(3) organization, so your contribution is tax deductible to the extent of the law. Please click on the following link https://www.valleyjcc.org/donate to go right to our donation page and make your year-end contribution today.


Please help us carry out our mission to provide a home for social, educational, and recreational programs for families and individuals. Thank You  

Best wishes,

Ollie Haas


Meet: Susan Menkes

Member, Fundraising Committee,

Valley JCC


Susan Menkes has been active in Valley JCC for many years, because, “it’s a warm and welcoming group of people who share common values”.


Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, Susan always identified with Jewish culture. She felt connected to the Jewish community, has been a temple member, and she sang in the temple choir.


Susan has had a long career as a psychiatric social worker, working in both State and L.A. County mental health settings, had a private practice, and finished her career in Home Health, where she enjoyed the independence and ability to remove herself from most office politics. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA and her Master’s Degree from USC.


At her first job as a social worker she met Donna Haas and Stephanie DuCaine

and has remained friends over the decades—now working together on the Center’s fundraising committee.


One day, past Executive Director, Valley JCC, Jerry Wayne called Susan and asked her to teach a class about available resources for adult children of aging parents. She accepted the offer and taught the class for Valley JCC. Since then, Susan has joined and been very active on the Fundraising Committee, and is known for her excellent record of soliciting ads for the organization’s Galathon.


Retired from social work, she currently has a small manufacturing business with a product that she sells all over the country. Susan and her husband Gabriel live in Tarzana, and enjoy participating in Valley JCC meetings, classes and fundraisers.



Valley JCC thanks you for all you do for our organization and the community!

Spotlight on:

Gregg Garfinkel,

Attorney and Craftsman


Gregg Garfinkel is an attorney, a crafter, and the father of two sons. His connection to Valley JCC is a result of his crafting talent and a donation of his baseball themed Hanukkah Menorah to our Galathon. 


Gregg grew up in the San Fernando Valley, attended Granada Hills Charter High School, California State University Northridge (CSUN), followed by McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, CA. 


Crafting started as a joke during the years his sons were playing baseball. For a holiday fundraiser, Gregg made a wreath out of baseballs and posted a photo on Facebook. He tried crafting different items and custom art pieces and the best idea and most successful was the baseball menorah, which is now being sold in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.


“My law practice pays the bills, and my crafting keeps me sane,” is the way Gregg explains his two passions. As an attorney, he specializes in business litigation, especially in the transportation industry. As a crafter, he has a website where you can shop for one of his many products: baseball painted keychains, baseball Christmas trees, baseball flags, baseball roses, and the popular baseball menorah using a miniature baseball bat and professional baseballs. 


The name of Gregg’s crafting company is BASEBALLIDAYS and to learn more or to order gifts, please go to his website: www.BaseballiDays.com.


Gregg lives in Porter Ranch with his two sons, and enjoys fishing and playing baseball.

Baseball Hanukkah Menorah

Gregg Garfinkel and his sons

Valley JCC Fall Brochure

Classes and Events

September - December 2022

Classes, Clubs, Excursions, Sports, Lunches and Dinners

For larger view of

FALL BROCHURE and to REGISTER for classes

CLICK HERE

Upcoming Classes for December 2022

Check out our December classes and click on the link to sign up!


Still Traveling: Captivating Cambodia – Traditions in Food, Art, Crafts & Dance

Four Mondays, December 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2022

11am-12:15pm (PT) on Zoom

For details & tickets, click here.

Repeated by Popular Demand!

Art & Anti-Semitism

Tuesday, December 6

11am-12:30pm (PT) on Zoom

Save! Register by Dec 4th for “Early Bird” pricing!

For details & tickets, click here.

Music & Morsels: “Three’s Company”

Wednesday, December 7

1-2pm (PT)

Save! Get “Early Bird” pricing before Dec 5th.

For details & tickets, click here.



Re-Re-Repeated by Popular Demand!

Exploring Broadway: Fabulous “Fiddler” (Part I: An Encore!)

Thursday, December 8

1-3pm (PT) on Zoom

Save! Order before Dec 6th for “Early Bird” pricing!

For details & tickets, click here.

Book Burning Throughout History: Our Ignorance is Their Power

Tuesday, December 13

11am-12:30pm (PT)

Save! Register by Dec 11th for “Early Bird” pricing!

For details & tickets, click here.


Songs & Stories: A Tribute to Betty Comden & Adolph Green

Wednesday, December 14

1-2pm (PT)

Save! Order before December 12th for “Early Bird” pricing!

For details & tickets, click here.

Exploring Broadway: Fabulous “Fiddler” (Part-II, A Sequel)

Thursday, December 15

1-3pm (PT)

Save! Order before Dec 13th for “Early Bird” pricing!

For details & tickets, click here.


Basketball

The Wayne League

by

Jason Moser

As the holiday season closes in, we can look back at our first year of running leagues and we can be proud of our accomplishments. When we started in February, our adult league was playing only on Sundays.


By March, it was clear that we needed to expand because our adult league increased to over 50 teams. By summer, we started our youth leagues with 5 teams which has now grown into double digits. We also had summer basketball camp and clinics with over 150 participants.


The fall season fared even better and as we look at the total numbers for the year, we discovered we had 172 adult teams and over 350 children who were either playing on a team, attending basketball camp, or both.


We would like to thank the following schools and their wonderful staff for accommodating our players: Emek Hebrew Academy, deToledo High School, A.E. Wright Middle School, Viewpoint School, Lindero Canyon Middle School, A.C. Stelle Middle School and West Ranch High School.


We look forward to continued growth in 2023.


Please join us - Shalom!

Wayne Youth League

Playing at A.E. Wright gym

To Register  For Winter Youth League Email: Jason@valleyjcc.org or call: (818) 360-2211

Wayne Girls Basketball

Girls league playing Sundays at A. E. Wright Middle School

Valley JCC sports leagues are named

in memory of beloved former

Executive Director Jerry Wayne

From Today's Montessori...

Valley JCC Men's Club


Meet and socialize

with other 55+ men in the Valley!


Past outings include special tours of Santa Anita Park, Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, experiences at Dodger Stadium, the Getty Museum, and Axe Throwing at Lumberjack's in Northridge.




December Dinner - Monday December 5th at 6:00pm

The Stand, Northridge

19600 Plummer Street

Northridge, CA 91324


The Men's Club regular meeting night had been scheduled for Monday, December 5th. However, Valley JCC is having a fundraiser that night (see flyer in this newsletter).


Therefore, the Men's Club has decided to support Valley JCC by joining the others at the fundraising dinner at The Stand in Northridge.


You are welcomed to bring anyone else you might be having dinner with (spouse, significant other, stranger!!)


Please print a copy of the flyer and bring it with you to the Stand. 

Hope to see you around 6:00pm!!


The Men's Club meets the first Monday of the month, unless there is

a national or religious holiday.


Stay tuned for the next activity...

We are planning trips for 2023


For more information, contact sandnl@verizon.net call 818-360-2211

Valley JCC December Calendar


Check Out December Classes & Events! 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW LARGER SIZE DECEMBER CALENDAR ONLINE

Current Events

Discussion Group




Join Our Current Events Discussion Group!


$6 participation fee

No charge for Valley JCC members


Meets the first & third Tuesday

of each month


Register for upcoming sessions HERE

Happy Birthday!

December


David Aberson

Iris Abrams

Leead Ben Hamo

Jessica Zakaryn

Norman Braverman

Debby Kane





Burt Kaminsky

Lance Korb

Eric Leibovitch

Phyllis Levy

Rhoda Pinchak

Natalie Rubinstein

Ariel Rubinstein


We Wish You Good Health & Happiness!

Build Your Own Latke Toppings Board

Start with latkes and add

sour cream, apple sauce, cucumbers, olives, and more....

For more information, go to:

https://ainttooproudtomeg.com/large-latke-hanukkah-board/

Dreidels: Interesting Facts & History

Dreidels, a beloved part of Hanukkah celebrations, symbolize deep spiritual concepts and have a fascinating history. Here are some little-known facts about them.


Fooling Greek Soldiers

In 175 BCE, King Antiochus Epiphanes took control of present-day Syria, Lebanon and Israel and instituted harsh decrees against Jewish life. Jews were forbidden from keeping Shabbat, Jewish holidays, and were banned from teaching or studying the Torah. So teachers and parents ran clandestine schools where teaching was done orally. Getting caught would lead to death.


Therefore, students kept a gambling toy similar to a dreidel in their pockets. If Greek soldiers raided these secret schools, children would quickly take out their spinning tops and some coins and explain that they were just playing games. This trickery allowed a generation of Jewish children to continue to study Torah and live secret Jewish lives.


From Ancient Greece to Modern Europe

It seems that spinning tops like dreidels were popular throughout the ancient Middle East. The different sides of the top each symbolized something different, much like modern dice, making the tops ideal for playing gambling games. Ancient Babylonians used blocks similar to dreidels to gamble: pictures of different gods symbolized winning and losing.

Historians believe that ancient Roman soldiers brought simple dice-like games played with four-sided spinning tops to England. The games became popular, and by the Middle Ages English children and adults were playing a dreidel-like gambling game.


Reflecting the Roman origins of the game, these English tops had the letters A, D, N and T on their four sides. These stood for the Latin Aufer (“take” – take a coin from the pot), Depone (“put” money into the pot), Nihil (“nothing” – do nothing on that turn) and Totum (“everything” – win all the coins in the pot). The game quickly became known as Teetotum, a corruption of the Latin word Totum, which was the luckiest spin.


Letters’ Deeper Meanings

The dreidels’ Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hey and shin don’t only stand for Nes Gadol Haya Sham (A great miracle happened there); some scholars point out they contain deeper meanings, too.


Chassidic scholar Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro (1783-1841) noted that the dreidel’s four letters correspond with four ancient kingdoms that tried and failed to destroy the Jewish people. Nun represents Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian leader who destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem. Gimel stands for Gog, or Greece, which tried to eradicate the Jewish religion in the time of Hanukkah. Hey stands for Haman, the wicked minister in ancient Persia who wanted to commit genocide and wipe out the Jews and whose defeat is remembered during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Shin stands for Seir, or ancient Rome, which destroyed the second Temple in Jerusalem and ended Jewish rule in ancient Israel for nearly two thousand years.



So when you play dreidel this year, relax and enjoy, knowing you are part of a long Jewish tradition of using the game of dreidel to connect with Hanukkah.


https://aish.com/history-and-meaning-of-dreidels-8-interesting-facts/


Book Suggestion


Mad Honey

by

Jodi Piccolt


A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.


Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.


Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start. 


And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .


Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.


Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.


...www.goodreads.com



Valley JCC is looking forward to engaging in ongoing outreach in the community.

Stay tuned for details...

Fundraising Opportunity

On Your Birthday!

"How To" Use Amazon Smile...


  1. Go to the AmazonSmile website: www.https://smile.amazon.com/charity
  2. Sign-in using your existing Amazon Account Name and Password
  3. Select your charity: Valley Jewish Community Center
  4. Start shopping
  5. Every time you shop on Amazon from now on, begin at: Smile.Amazon.com and sign in. The sign-in spot is located in the upper right-hand corner
  6. A percentage of each purchase goes to Valley JCC. Everything helps!




"How To" Use Ralphs To Benefit Valley JCC

  1. Go to: www.ralphs.com
  2. Click on "Sign in" to the right of the search box. (If you don't have an online account, click on "Register")
  3. Click on your name to the right of the search box at the top
  4. You will now be on your Account Summary page
  5. Scroll down to "Community Contributions" and click on "Enroll"
  6. Complete the online form and Click on "Save"
  7. Enter organization number SK677 and click on the "Search" button
  8. "Valley Jewish Community Center" will be displayed. Click "Enroll"
  9. You will see a confirmation at the top of the Account Summary page
  10. A percentage of your purchases will be donated to Valley JCC



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