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CHAI LINES
The Newsletter of the International Northeast Region
April 12, 2024 - 4 Nisan 5784
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Welcome!
As members of a WLCJ affiliated sisterhood or as a WLCJ Individual Member, you also belong to the International Northeast Region (INR) of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and we are happy to be able to send you our bi-weekly region newsletter we call “Chai Lines”! Please read and enjoy!
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From our Guest Contributors
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INR Conference 2024
Have you registered for the INR Spring Conference? The deadline to register is fast approaching – just days away on April 19th!
You will have the opportunity to heal your body, mind and soul on Sunday May 5th and Monday May 6th in Toronto, Ontario.
There is so much packed into this conference – you don’t want to miss it. You will have the opportunity to learn what is happening in Israel directly from the CEO and Executive Director of Masorti, Rakefet Ginsburg.
We will hear from one of the first female Jewish journalists with Canadian Jewish News, podcaster Ellin Bessner.
Stretch your body and indulge your soul at our Healing Service with Aviva Chernick and learn Torah with Beth Tikvah’s Rabbi Jarrod Grover. And we will memorialize Yom Hashoa with author Kathy Kacer.
There is so much more packed into just a couple of days and we are looking forward to seeing you. Reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. Good food, good times and so much more! Register today – don’t delay!
We look forward to seeing you at Conference. See the flyer below for a link to register!
Co-Chairs,
Adele Weinstein & Rivy Blass
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REGION MATTERS:
Deadline to Register for Conference is April 19th!
In addition to all of the exciting programs mentioned above by Adele and Rivy, there will also be workshops on Environment, Membership, & Tikun Olam Projects as well as a session with Rabbi Jennifer Gorman on CJPAC & AIPAC. Give yourself that special gift. Come to Conference. You deserve it! See the flyer below to register!
Please be sure to vote on the WLCJ Criminal Justice Reform resolution. Voting is open through April 15th. See below for more information.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marilyn
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From our Torah Fund Vice President | | |
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Announcing
Our 2023-2024
Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh
Campaign
All the people of Israel are responsible for one another
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Our home was right in the path of the eclipse. We had company come from out of town. As hotel costs soared, we helped friends find a private rental that was within reason. I went shopping to buy foods with sun, moon, stars, and cosmic in their names. The day before was a day of clear skies. The day of the eclipse came, and we had clouds. We did catch a glimpse or two of the moon moving over the sun. We did experience deep darkness and a chill during the totality. The streetlights came on in the middle of the day. As the skies lightened, the birds began their morning songs. Our guests left soon afterwards. Then the sun came out. This eclipse was a natural phenomenon. But let’s take that image and think of our students who have big expenses and need someone to move heaven and earth to help them through their schooling. We can be those sent from the heavens to help them by making donations to Torah Fund. All gifts, large and small, matter. Each gift is like a break in the clouds. We can make a difference. Thank you for all your support of Torah Fund.
The next total eclipse could be beyond most of our lifetimes. In our lifetime, we can make gifts to ensure that our support continues. Consider joining the Torah Fund Legacy Society. As with donations to the current campaign, all bequests, large and small, are welcome. Beyond our lifetimes, we can make a difference in the Conservative/Masorti movement. More information can be found at: Torah Fund Legacy Society - Jewish Theological Seminary (jtsa.edu)
Making online donations today is easy. In Canada, you must start with the ecard platform, send an ecard for $5.00, and then you may add an additional amount. Here’s the link: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/canadian/
In the U.S.: Donate to Torah Fund (jtsa.edu)
To send ecards is the US, use this link: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/
Torah Fund cards are a wonderful way to acknowledge joys and sorrows. There are new ecard designs available. Traditional paper cards may be purchased from your local Torah Fund Chair in both the U.S. and in Canada.
We are getting ever closer to reaching the $200,000 goal of the Creating New Spaces campaign which will equally fund two important projects: A “Women’s League Study Space” in the new undergraduate residence hall at The Jewish Theological Seminary, and a special course of training for rabbinical students at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, entitled “Women’s League Institute on Gender Bias and Harassment.” Please consider adding a bit more to your giving to help us complete this task.
INR’s Conference is just a few weeks away. I hope I will see you there.
Always, your support is appreciated. Thank you. Merci, Todah Rabah.
Am Yisrael Chai,
Linda Boxer
INR Torah Fund VP
INRTorahFund@gmail.com
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This week at Women's League:
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Every Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday - Join us for Makom B'Yachad on Zoom (Unless a Jewish holiday)
- Saturday, April 13, 2024 - Read up on WWOT: Parashat Tazria
- Monday, April 15, 2024 - Deadline to Vote on our WL Resolution on Criminal Justice Reform 2024
- WLCJ Calendar Diaries 5785 are available to pre-order
- WLCJ Offices will be closed Monday, April 22 - Tuesday, April 30th
- Registration for WL Individual Members Program on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 is Open
- View/Download New Prayer from Rabbi Ellen S Wolintz-Fields, "Let Us Pray"
- Learn more about a WL Partnership with Neve Shalom's Weaving Program
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Pre-Order WLCJ 5785 Calendar Diaries | | |
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Calendar Diaries are available for pre-orders. All orders will ship on or after the first week of June.
Pocket Size = $11.00
Planner Size = $26.00
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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum is offering a discount for WLCJ members on their freedom tags. To take advantage of this deal, please use this link: CLICK HERE
Discount will show upon checkout.
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Resolution for Criminal Justice Reform 2024 | |
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To the Membership of WLCJ,
PLEASE VOTE!
Part of the fabric of American society is racism, and our Jewish values tell us to fight it.
Criminal justice reform deals with the results of intolerance, including mass incarceration, a two-tiered bail system,
disproportionate sentencing structures, and other issues.
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You have an opportunity to vote on this Criminal Justice Reform resolution until April 15.
To read the Criminal Justice Reform resolution, click HERE.
Thank you,
Laurie Silverblatt
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Laurie Silverblatt
lasilverblatt@gmail.com
Public Policy & Resolutions Chair
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WL Health & Wellness: A fireside chat with
Dr. Rochelle Walensky
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Thursday
April 25, 2024
8:00pm ET
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Join us as we have a conversation with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She will share her own personal journey into public health, what it was like to get “the call,” what were some of the hardest days/things, lessons learned, morale of the agency, preparedness for the next pandemic, and more. | |
Debbie Bettan
Health and Wellness Chair
dbettan@wlcj.org
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Thursday
May 2, 2024
4:00pm ET
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Please join us to our next WL Reads selection, “Exile Music” by Jennifer Steil.
Based on an unexplored slice of World War II history, "Exile Music" is the captivating story of a young Jewish girl whose family flees refined and urbane Vienna for safe harbor in the mountains of Bolivia... continue reading.
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Karen Block
WL Reads Chair
kblock@wlcj.org
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Special Programming for WLCJ Individual Members | |
Wednesday
May 29, 2024
7:30pm ET
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Let's Talk! WLCJ Individual Members' Virtual Meeting
The second in a series of virtual events to create connections.
Open to Individual Members ONLY.
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This will include a presentation by Women’s League Individual Member Yael Gotthart, a graduate student in Montreal — Does Hip-Hop Music and Culture Fuel Antisemitism Among Youth?
WLCJ leaders will bring you news, note upcoming events, and answer questions.
Future virtual meetings will keep the conversation going, as Individual Members build connections with one another. Bring your ideas about topics that interest you.
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Thank you for being a WLCJ Individual Member. If you haven't yet renewed for the 2023-2024 year, you'll be prompted to do so as you register for this event.
WLCJ Membership Chair:
Doreen Bornfreund, dbornfreund@wlcj.org
Individual Membership Co-Chairs:
Susan Farber, sfarber@wlcj.org or
Vivian Leber, vleber@wlcj.org
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Women’s League Partnership | |
Women’s League has now become a partner with the Neve Shalom Sisterhood Loom Room program. Each time someone comes to weave as a referral from Women’s League, we have the opportunity to share this incredible experience with them (and Women’s League also receives a referral fee). Whether you come to weave yourself or have our volunteers weave the item after you have designed it, you will take enormous pride and joy and satisfaction in your performance of hiddur mitzvah. It will be a seminal moment in your life. | There is also a Women's League Hiddur Mitzvah Google Group. If you want to join the group, please email Esta Lichtenstein, WLCJ Communications Chair at elichtenstein@wlcj.org to be added. | |
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Rabbi Margie Cella
mcella@wlcj.org
WLCJ Educator
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For the past 80-plus years, the Torah Fund Campaign of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, the dedicated philanthropy of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, has been supporting scholarships and programs in the worldwide Conservative/Masorti institutes of higher Jewish learning, The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, Schechter Institutes of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem,
Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, and Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam.
The 2023-2024 / 5784 Torah Fund General Campaign is Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh, All the people of Israel are responsible for one another. Arevut, responsibility, will be visible on our new, silver heart-shaped charm which can be worn as a pendant or pin.
The WWOT, the Weekly Words of Torah, each week through the end of June 2024, will delve into the idea of arevut, responsibility.
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Parashat Tazria | Leviticus 12:1-13:59
April 13, 2024
This week’s parashah begins with the description of the purification ritual for a woman following childbirth. If she gave birth to a boy, she was ritually impure for seven days, then an additional 33 days; both of those time periods for a girl. In either case, she then was to bring a burnt offering and a sin offering to effectuate her atonement and be deemed pure once again.
Following this, there is a lengthy discussion of a skin disease called tsara’at, leprosy. Anyone suffering from this condition had to be examined by the priest, who would declare them either clean or unclean; a designation of unclean required that the individual isolate themselves from the congregation before reexamination by the priest. There were multiple ways in which leprosy could potentially be manifested on the body of an individual, and any blemish on the body that had a suspicious appearance was treated in this manner. Additionally, leprosy could appear in garments; any that could not be cleansed in seven days were required to be burned.
We have all learned quite a bit about the experience of dealing with a highly infectious disease. Though a Covid diagnosis in most cases does not pose the level of danger that it did during the pandemic, it nevertheless can be extremely contagious. If there is any lesson that we can take from that time, as well as from the biblical instances of tsara’at, it is to be more considerate of others by doing everything in our power to avoid exposing them to our germs when we are sick. Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh - All the people of Israel are responsible for one another.
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Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday
9:00 am PT
10:00 am MT
11:00 am CT
12:00 pm ET
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A virtual background is available for Makom Yachad!
DOWNLOAD HERE
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Important Dates:
Pre-Passover - Friday, April 19
No Makom on Tuesday, April 23, Wednesday, April 24, and Tuesday, April 30
A virtual service for our WLCJ Sisters to recite Mishaberach, the Prayer for Healing, recite the Psalm of the Day, study and recite Kaddish together.
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/630830287
Meeting ID: 630 830 287
Password: 875936
| Want to sing, teach, help with technology, and more during Daily Psalm Study, and Kaddish? | |
Prayer for Comfort - composed by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields
VIEW PRAYER
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Women’s League's got talent — Join the communications team! Positions need to be filled! | |
Are you fluent in Zoom? Can you spotlight a speaker? Start the recording? Set up breakout rooms? Do you know how to let people in from the waiting room? Or would you like to learn more about how to use Zoom’s moderating features? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions we need you! | |
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WLCJ is looking for volunteers to help run Zoom for our Region conferences and Women's League programs. Hours vary and are flexible. Please reach out to Esta Lichtenstein with any questions or to sign up.
Questions?
Esta Z. Lichtenstein
WL Communications Chair
elichtenstein@wlcj.org
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Women’s League for Conservative Judaism sponsors Mothers of Olim, a group founded prior to the emergence of Zoom. Initially the members helped each other ship packages to their children who had made Aliyah, immigrated to Israel. With the dawn of Covid and Zoom, Mothers of Olim became a lifeline to women around the globe when we weren’t permitted to visit... continue reading | |
Renee Seal
BubbyRenee18@aol.com
Mothers of Olim Chair
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Our ongoing WLCJ Inclusion Committee is looking to expand. The purpose of our committee is to make our members aware of the great strides in Inclusion in our Sisterhood affiliates and synagogues. Our Women’s League Inclusion Committee is working towards expanding the culture of our synagogues to create an environment that makes all of us, no matter our unique identities and needs, feel welcomed and embraced in our Jewish community. We work to initiate programs with and support programs for the Inclusion committees in your synagogue/Sisterhood affiliate to make all underserved communities feel seen and encourage improvement of Inclusion practices and policies. If this interests you, please contact Karen Winer.
Karen Winer
karen.winer@comcast.net
Inclusion Co-Chair
Vicki Isman
vicki.isman@gmail.com
Inclusion Co-Chair
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Resources found on our website | |
From the Seminaries We Support | |
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Hillel International Scholarships for Jewish Students | Learn more
Nefesh B'Nefesh | Learn more
Reshet Ramah Poland Journey | Learn more
Announcing the new Yuval Yisrael summer program for teens | Learn more
Women's Study Group with author, Naomi Graetz | Learn more
MERCAZ USA | Give
Women's League Google Groups | Learn more
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INR of Women's League for Conservative Judaism | | | | |
