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CHAI LINES
The Newsletter of the International Northeast Region
March 29, 2024 - 19 Adar II 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 Region President
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Dear Friends,
To learn about sacrifices in Parshat Tzav, may have a place,
But don’t expect that it will put a smile on your face.
So let’s stay with the Purim theme for a little while longer
And I hope that the poem below will help you stay stronger.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marilyn
The Jewnited Colours of Israel
These past few months have been quite difficult.
Life and the world in a constant tumult.
Our hearts and our minds have been badly burned.
And many of our so-called friends have turned.
First Israel was in a state of machloket (disagreement),
All of the infighting very nearly broke it.
Now the months have worn on in this terrible war.
And there is only one way to settle the score.
We have got to strengthen our Jewish Community.
Don’t doubt this fact – our power is unity.
It’s always been true, it was ever thus:
When we are together nothing can stop us.
Back in Shushan when we went astray,
It was the power of achdut (unity) that saved the day.
For Eretz Yisrael we must stand on guard,
Be you Ashkenaz, or be you Sephard.
Conservative, Orthodox, Reform – Whichever your sect,
We need to be one, and learn to connect.
As all of the colours combine to make white
Coming together will brighten our light.
If we all pull together on this Purim,
There is no doubt – it’s certain we’ll win.
So join us in singing a joyous cry
Our light is eternal – Am Yisrael Chai!
Written by
Jeremy Diamond
printed here with consent from the Author
Marilyn Cohen
Region President
INRPresident21@wlcj.org
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REGION MATTERS:
SPRING CONFERENCE is falling into place, and we are truly excited about it. Our Conference Committee, headed by Co-Chairs Rivy Blass and Adele Weinstein, have planned and organized an excellent array of speakers who will inform, engage, and spiritually uplift all who attend. However, I think the most important aspect of Conference will be the conversations and connections we will make with each other over the two days of May 5 & 6, 2024.
Deadline for Group Rate at the Hotel is April 5th!
Here are a few highlights:
Sunday, May 5th
Rakefet Ginsberg, CEO & Executive Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel.
Kathy Kacer, author of young readers books on the Holocaust.
Workshops on Environment, Membership, & Tikun Olam Projects
Monday, May 6th
Torah Study Session with Rabbi Jarrod Grover of Beth Tikvah
Rabbi Jennifer Gorman to speak on CJPAC & AIPAC
Ellin Bessner of the Canadian Jewish News – Women in Journalism
Give yourself that special gift. Come to Conference. You deserve it!
See the flyer below to register!
Shabbat Shalom,
Marilyn
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Region Affiliate Programs | |
Beth David Women - Toronto | |
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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My mother used to tell me that when I got older time would fly by quickly. I wish she was still here so I could tell her just how right she was. Our current Torah Fund Campaign, Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh, will end June 30th. Our affiliates, working together to reach the region’s goal, are making great progress. Some affiliates are over their goals. Others are quickly approaching theirs. Together, we have submitted $39,149.00 and an additional $253.86 toward the Spaces campaign. Each dollar donated makes a difference in the life of one of the students. Remember we met JTS student, Rabbi to-be Alicia Rothamel? She talked about how she is benefitting from the efforts of those who donate to Torah Fund. Thank you! All donations, large and small, matter.
Here in Western New York, spring is struggling to spring forth. We’ve put away the hamantaschen recipes. Soon we’ll be sweeping chametz from our houses as we prepare for Pesach. We’ll join together at our conference and learn more about Torah Fund at one of the sessions. We’ll announce the new campaign slogan then, too. I hope to see you there.
In the meantime, please continue to make your donations. Chairs, please submit checks promptly.
The Creating New Spaces campaign continues until it reaches its goal of $200,000. We are getting so close. Can we do it this fiscal year? With your help, we can. Once you’ve completed your Torah Fund pledge for this year’s Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh campaign, please considers an additional amount for Spaces. This special project 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.”
Don’t forget about the Torah Fund Legacy Society. Four years ago, the Torah Fund Legacy Society was established for donors to make planned gifts to benefit Torah Fund. There are different options. You simply designate Torah Fund as a beneficiary of a financial instrument such as an IRA, life insurance policy, pension fund, bank certificate of deposit, or Israel Bond. Or you can make a bequest from your will or trust. Please choose the best method in consultation with your financial advisor or attorney. There is no minimum or maximum donation amount required, nor do you need to state a dollar value unless you would like to do so. Once you have designated a legacy gift for Torah Fund, we ask that you complete the Bequest Confirmation Form. You then receive a beautiful charm with the word ‘Atid’ (‘Future’) in Hebrew, to affix to your Torah Fund pin. Please let me know when you would like to be contacted by a Torah Fund Legacy representative. Thank you for helping ensure the future of the Jewish people through your long-term support of Torah Fund.
Torah Fund cards are available for all occasions. There are new e-cards on the Torah Fund website as well as the standard favorites. Their purchase is credited to your own affiliate and applied toward goals. To purchase Torah Fund ecards, please use these links:
US page: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/
Canadian page: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/canadian/
Remember to use the link from your country, not the recipient’s country.
Paper cards are available from your local Torah Fund Chair.
Please note that it is from that Canadian link that you can make additional donations to Torah Fund, after first purchasing an ecard.
In the United States, to make a donation, the link is: Donate to Torah Fund (jtsa.edu)
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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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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Friday
March 29, 2024
5:00pm ET
| Minyan Ahavah reaches out to people with memory loss and their caregivers. The next virtual Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming the Sabbath) service is on Friday, March 29, at 5 pm Cantor Josh and Rabbi Judith Hauptman will lead the service. You can log in at 5 pm, or even better, at 4:45 pm, for a schmooze. A really nice way to begin the Sabbath is with a bit of chat with others. So join early! Zoom link is below. | | |
Link: https://wlcj2.org/u/?V1c6432m
Meeting ID: 212 673 2096
Passcode: 2126732096
Want to bring a friend or relative? Please do! Just forward them the link. Here’s a way for you to participate in the service: please hold up something in your bedroom and tell us about it. Can be anything at all that you are able to hold up and show.
During the Mi Sheberach prayer for healing, you will be able to type in the names of the people for whom you are wishing a speedy recovery. I will read them aloud. We look forward to greeting you on Friday March 29, at 5 pm, or a few minutes earlier.
Rabbi Hauptman
juhauptman@jtsa.edu
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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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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 Tzav | Leviticus 6:1-8:36
March 30, 2024
This second parashah of Leviticus continues to define seven different types of offerings that one could bring. For each one we learn what was offered and by whom, what motivated the sacrifice, what was eaten by the individual, what was eaten by the priests. The people are strongly warned not to eat the blood or the fat of any sacrifice. Doing so would cause them to be cut off from the nation because the blood contains the life, and the fat was reserved for burning, allowing its pleasant aroma to reach up to God.
Finally, Moses is instructed to bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting to anoint them to the priesthood in the presence of all the people. Carefully and methodically, he places each of the priestly garments on his brother and then his nephews and anoints the head of each with oil. How awesome it must have been to witness this event. The final step was to offer a bull and two rams as a burnt offering. Each of the newly anointed priests placed his hands on the animal’s head, acknowledging that he himself needed to atone for his own sins before he could take on the responsibility of atoning for others. In so doing, they served as an example to us all. Before accusing someone of wrongdoing, we must be willing to honestly examine our own behavior, for none of us is blameless. Becoming a people holy to God requires each of us to perfect our own character so that we can better work together to improve the world around us. 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 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
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A virtual background is available for Makom Yachad!
DOWNLOAD HERE
| 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 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 | | | | |
