Hello Angela,,

Shanah tova u'metukah!

A good and sweet year!

We look forward to enjoying the new year with you.

There is still time to renew your WRS membership or join us for the first time. WRS membership for the current year began July 1, 2023 and ends June 30, 2024.

If you have renewed your membership, thank you!  

We are so happy to have you with us in WRS.

If you haven't gotten to it yet, we are one sister short.

Here are three easy ways to renew your membership.

1. Renew your WRS membership when you pay directly to WRS online. Pay WRS
2. Mail your renewal to WRS. Here's the membership form to print out and send with your payment. Membership form and address.
3. Renew your WRS when paying Congregation Rodef Sholom annual membership. Link to CRS Website.

Contact [email protected] for questions about your WRS membership.

Friday, September 8

Boyle Park, Mill Valley

Sisters, friends, families, and dogs together

for fun, food, festivities

4:30pm WRS Sponsored Pre-Service Party

5:45pm Congregation joins the fun

6:15 Shabbat Services followed by self-hosted dinner

Register To Attend

Do you have a cornhole game or bocce ball set, giant Jenga blocks, an outdoor bowling set, or any other fun games for kids and adults of all ages to loan? Please email [email protected]



Look for an invitation to our next famous

WRS Koffee Kibbitz for active members.

September 27, 10:30am

virtually and at a coffee shop near you.

We can't wait to see you!

Jonathan's Place

Sunday, September 24

Sunday, December 31

10:00am - 12:00pm

190 Mill Street, San Rafael

What's better than sisters serving together?

Looking for three WRS sisters for each date to join together in serving a "heat and serve" meal at Jonathan's Place, the San Rafael based shelter serving unhoused clients.

We meet at 10:00am. The food will be on hand.

We heat a brunch meal of quiche, turkey sausage,

fries, muffins, and fruit.

Duties are:

general prep for service

cutting muffins/fruit

service in person and creating to-go boxes

light clean up

You must be able to stand for 2 hours.

Volunteers must be 16 years and over.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR DATES



Help WRS Create Self Care Kits for

Unhoused Women

Often unhoused women do not have easy access to feminine hygiene products or women's health needs. Please join WRS in assembling self care kits (in person) and writing cards (online) for women in need. Congregation Rodef Sholom's Mitzvah Day

Sunday, October 21

10:00am - 12:00pm.

Sign Up For Project

Seeking donations for brand new travel sized toiletries, and feminine hygiene products.

Contact [email protected] for more

information and to make a donation.

The WRS Opening event was cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. Joanne's presentation and booksigning

will be rescheduled to a future date.

Joanne's book By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go

is still available for purchase at the

WRS Gift Shop.

The book selection for October

Carnegie's Maide by Marie Benedict

Please email to [email protected] if you would like to receive WRS Book Club updates each month.

REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE



Join your neighbors and others for

monthly walks in Marin.

Join the easy and fun WRS walking group for our next walk in Novato on September 10. We walk for about an hour on flat paths throughout Marin. Our August walkers enjoyed lively conversations and a bit of exercise on a beautiful summer day along the Corte Madera Creek in Greenbrae. WRS monthly walks are a great way to connect with other women and nature.

Upcomining Dates and locations:

Sunday, September 10 - 10:00am in Novato

Sunday, October 1 - 10:00am in San Rafael

Sunday, November 5 - 10:00 am in Mill Valley

Register by emailing to [email protected] with your name, email address, telephone number, and city or zip code. We will send you details before the walk. We can't wait to walk with you!

WRS Rosh Chodesh Group

No meeting in September

Seeking Group Coordinator, please contact [email protected]

“Whoever blesses the moon in its time welcomes

the presence of the Schechina (female Devine presence).”

Rosh Chodesh marks the beginning of each month in the Hebrew calendar by the appearance of the new moon.

It's a time for women to gather joyfully 

to bond in sisterhood!

Shipping is $7.00

Questions about ordering honey?

Email to: [email protected]

FAQS



Sales staff needed in

the WRS Gift Shop

Have you ever considered yourself behind the counter meeting folks coming into the JCC and helping someone find that special gift?

We need you now! Flexible shifts and a 20% discount on your purchases.

Thinking about it? Email WRS Gift Shop to find out more.



WRS Board Meeting

Tuesday, September 5

7:00pm - 8:30pm on Zoom

Our Board of Directors meetings are the first Tuesday of 

the month and are open to all members. 

Send your name and email to [email protected] if you would like to attend this or future meetings.

WRS continues to recruit members to volunteer with several standing committees within our organization. If you are interested in sharing your talents with Membership, Programming, or Social Justice and Fundraising endeavors, please email your contact details to [email protected]. 

The new fiscal year for WRS began on July 1.



Bring your unique skills to one of the standing committees in the new year by sending your contact information to [email protected]:

• Membership through recruiting new members and planning events for our beloved existing members
• Planning fun and meaningful sisterhood activities through our Programming endeavors
• Performing important tikkun olam (repairing the world) through WRS Social Justice work
• Volunteering in our beautiful retail Judaica Gift Shop in the JCC, recruiting shop volunteers, or bookkeeping for our treasured shop
• Raising critical tzedakah (charitable funds) relied upon by our sisterhood-, congregational-, and wider communities.

WRS Membership Team Meeting

Monday, September 18

7:00pm

Join us as we start planning our Women of Rodef Sholom fun social activies for the upcoming months.

RSVP with your name and email to

[email protected]

The Zoom link for the meeting will be emailed to you.

If you attend a meeting, you will be added to the distribution list for future meetings.

Join us! Without you we are one women short.

Thank you WRS Membership Team: Jen Levine, Naomi Sachs, Suzanne Alpert, Angela Giacomini, Roz Kahn, Fanny Stein

WRS Programming and Social Justice

Team Meeting

Tuesday, September 19

5:30pm - 7:00pm on Zoom

Join us as we plan our Women of Rodef Sholom's

Mitzvah Day Project and Shabbat services.

RSVP with your name and email to [email protected].

The Zoom link for the meeting will be emailed to you.

If you attend a meeting, you will be added to the distribution list for future meetings.



Join us! We are stronger together.

Thank you WRS Programming and Social Justice Team:

Gail Berkowitz, Amy Friedricks, Angela Giacomini, Jan Goldberg, Susan Goldwasser, Toni Grimes, BettyAnn Kram, Barbara Kraus, Sheri Langer, Jen Levine, Gerri Miller.

What led you to take on a new role on the WRS Board of Directors? I love meeting new people and sharing my passion for Women of Rodef Sholom, which has been such a wonderful community for me since I became actively involved, about a decade ago!

Why should members renew or join WRS this year? We are having fun together in person (and virtually for those who prefer that), and this is an amazing community of fun, kind, wise women!

What is something that you have learned about yourself that has surprised you? I am an open book, even with myself apparently, because I can't think of much new information. You'll see in my answers below that I'm not great at picking favorites, which may be a bit surprising.

What is your favorite hobby?  Hobbies I love are walking with or without my elderly dog, Buster, and watching films, preferably in the movie theater. I love walking on all types of paths and trails, but I don't love going uphill, which is hard to avoid in Marin! I like all films, except horror, and more than once, I have told my picky son that I would literally watch any documentary he chose!

What song or singer inspires you? I love the passion behind liturgical music of all kinds, from our own Shabbat music to gospel choirs to Gregorian chanting and most music in between. Some of that passion is overt and contagious and some is more restrained, but I find it all beautiful and meaningful.

What have you learned from those who have served in this position before you? Past VPs of Membership have been so creative in finding meaningful ways to recruit new Women of Rodef Sholom members and to honor existing ones, such as hosting such lovely Hanukkah socials and starting up our Coffee Kibbitzes. With my Co-VP Naomi Sachs, I hope to continue to build on those activities that are so much fun and such wonderful ways to connect with friends, including those we may not have met yet!

What led you to take on a new role on the WRS Board of Directors? I was asked :). And I’m happy to contribute time and energy to such a lovely group of women

Why should members renew or join WRS this year? Please come join us! We’re planning super fun events both online and in person. Our members are our priority and we want to see you, share, laugh and have fun with you. Spending time with women in an enjoyable setting is such a meaningful and impactful way to make friends you haven’t met yet!

What is something that you have learned about yourself that has surprised you? Moving back to Marin eight years ago after +30 years in Los Angeles was surprisingly MUCH harder than I anticipated. I learned I needed to give it all time and to have patience (I’m mostly adjusted now, though still looking for great Mexican food in the county and will take suggestions!). 

What is your favorite hobby? Oh gosh - there are many but my passion is travel and particularly helping others learn how to stretch dollars by using miles and points efficiently to provide amazing experiences for ourselves and the people we care about. I’m also the family genealogist in my generation, being the keeper & maintainer (and researcher!) of the +2500 person family tree, the archival photos, the original documents and the connections to our cousins all around the world in Israel, in Canada, in Australia, in the UK, in the US, in Germany, etc

What song or singer inspires you? Modern Israeli music is my default when my family isn’t home (I don’t think they enjoy that musical choice so much, lol). One of my favorite songs is Matanot K'tanot (“Small Gifts' ') which reminds me of the smells (Matzo ball soup! Roast chicken!) and the perceptible quiet of Friday afternoons in Israel - just before Shabbat comes in.

What have you learned from those who have served in this position before you? The women who held this position before Jen Levine and I took over as co-VP’s have done so much for WRS. I hope to follow in their footsteps of kindness and generosity. Jen and I plan to broaden the reach of WRS to include women who may work full time and/or may not be as available mid-day & mid-week. And to make sure FUN is a big component of what we do. 

The Women of Rodef Sholom is a proud member of the Women of Reform Judaism and WRJ Pacific District (WRJ PD). Sign up for the WRJ PD's weekly "Chai Line."

WRJ “Advocacy Matters” Newsletter. Sign up here

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism 



For more than six decades, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC) has worked to educate, inspire, and mobilize the Reform Jewish Movement to advocate for social justice. More Information here. 

Marin Organizing Committee

More information here

Read about Rodef Sholom's social justice

activities and other events

 Congregation Rodef Sholom's website

Rodef Sholom's Religious School is seeking teachers for the TK - 6th grade program starting Octobr 1st (Sundays, 9 am - 12 pm). We offer competive pay, paid training, a caring vibrant community, and a collaborative supportive team. Interested or know somebody who

would be a great fit? Email to receive

more information here.

The WRS Pool Party and Summer Social was a great success and wonderful start to the new year. It was a great opportunity to meet new friends on a lovely day!