Rabbi’s Corner 2Cantor’s Notes, Reflections 3Lifelong Jewish Learning 4 June Calendar 5Sinai News Update, Personals 6Social Action Planting Day 7B’nei Mitzvah, What’sGreening at Sinai8Rummage Sale 9Donations 10 June Yahrzeits 11

Shabbat Schedule

SINAI NEWS

Rabbi David B. Cohen • Cantor Rebecca Robins • Rabbi Emeritus Jay R. BrickmanInterim Executive Director Stacy Schwab • Director of Lifelong Jewish Learning Sherry H. Blumberg, Ph.D., R.J.E.Sinai News - Nicole SetherCongregation Sinai • 8223 N. Port Washington Road• Fox Point, WI 53217414.352.2970• 414.352.0944 (fax)• www.congregationsinai.org

Shabbat

Nasso

- Numbers 4:21-7:89

June 5 Minyan Katan 5:30 pmCongregational Dinner 6 pmFamily Shabbat Service 7 pmJune 6 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am

Shabbat

Beha’alotcha

- Numbers 8:1-12:16

June 12 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmJune 13 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 amDavid Wolfe Bar Mitzvah 10 am

June 2009 • Sivan/Tamuz 5769

Shabbat

Sh’lach

- Numbers 13:1-15:41

June 19 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmJune 20 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am

Shabbat

Korach

- Numbers 16:1-18:32

June 26 Outdoor Shabbat Service 6 pmJune 27 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 amZach Stroli Bar Mitzvah 10 am

In this issue

Fifth Annual 6

Grade Bake Sale

On Sunday April 26, 2009 the 6

grade classdid a fabulous job of baking and selling their goods toraise over $160.00 to benefitB’nei Mitzvah education forour sister congregation, Emetv’Shalom in Nahariya, Israel.Many thanks to roomparents Judy Flegel and DanElias, and to Jennifer Mo-glowsky for volunteering for this event, and to the Brother-hood for donating bagels andcream cheese.This year fundraising for Emet v’Shalom has beenespecially important Much of their revenue is now allo-cated to cover rent for theirnew building, which up until November 2008 was subsi-dized by the Union for ReformJudaism. Any additionalfunds we can provide for pro-gramming is essential to them. Through the sale of holiday roses, the 2008 duescheck off and the bake sale,we have raised over $1100for them. This year we alsoraised $250 to benefit thechildren in S’derot who havebeen subjected to 8 years of rocket attacks from the GazaStrip.Thanks to all whohave supported our endeav-ors!

Front: Justin Weil, Jake Lappin Back: Alex Elias, Madrichimand Hebrew teachers Aviva Glassman and Ariele Glass-man, teacher Jill Weinshel, Jack Rhead, Joey Flegel-Mishlove,Naomi Arenzon, Becca Klippel, Kayla Kogod.

When it comes to computers, the “new thing” is, bydefinition, smaller, faster, and cheaper. “Moore’s Law” de-fines how much so: the power of microprocessor technol-ogy doubles and the costs of production fall in half every 18months. Hence, a powerful computer that once filled ten thousand square feet of office space, can now comfortablyreside in your wristwatch. Plus, now you can afford it!The economies provided by “Moore’s Law” alsochanged the world of communication, as slow,inefficient modalities like written correspondencehave given way to cheap and fast email, texting,and FaceBook entries. Yet, faster and cheaperdoesn’t always yield “better.” Once upon a time, taking pen to paper, presumed sufficient inspira- tion to engage in the relatively inefficient act of correspondence. Today, it’s infinitely easier toconnect; but do we really have that much more tosay?Enter the latest conveyor of atomizedinformation: Twitter. Twitter is a way to stay in touch with allof your “peeps” (people, in the current lingo) through the timely uploading of messages called “tweets” of up to 140characters. The necessity for such brevity, coupled with thehuman desire to be “in touch” leads to some amusing ex-amples from the Twitter world. “Back from Belgium,” Repre-sentative Darrell Issa of California tweeted last month.“They make quite a waffle.” Claire McCaskill, the juniorsenator from Missouri, tweeting non-stop since the inaugu-ration, wrote: “I get an old style crunchy taco, and a chickenburrito supreme & Diet Coke at Taco Bell.. Miss those tosta-dos.” Then: “Ok, ok, brain freeze. I know you can only getDiet Pepsi at Taco Bell.” (from the New York Times, April19, 2009).To be fair, McCaskill and other politicians do useTwitter for more conventional political purposes, say, likesharing their views on upcoming legislation. Yet, much of what passes for conversation on Twitter is banal, pseudo-intimate details of someone’s life. A year ago, this was newand fun. Today, the “ambient awareness”, as Virginia Hef-

Rabbi’s Corner

Page 2 June 2009

fernan coins it, promoted by Twitter, has transformed intosomething darker, perhaps because the world is a darkerplace given the economic downturn. She writes: “Whereonce it was “hypnotic” and “mesmerizing” to read abouta friend’s fever or a cousin’s job complaints, today thesame kind of posts, and from broader and broader audi-ences, seem . . . threatening. Encroaching. Suffocating.”While Twitter is an uber-efficient way to shareand amplify the national zeitgeist, it now ap-pears that technology can enslave, not justliberate. As writer Bruce Sterling put it whenspeaking recently at the tech conference“South by Southwest”, the clearest symbol of poverty is dependence on “connections” like the Internet, Skype and texting. “Poor folk love their cell phones!” he said.He didn’t intend to insult the poor; hemeant that the clearest sign of wealth andprosperity is the desire and capability to “turnoff” those devices (and their ringers!) and instead to en- joy some peace and quiet alone or with friends, or with abook or a walk in the woods, things you can put in yourhand and which can’t be digitized and transmitted instan- taneously across the world. Rather than feeling more“connected”, we end up craving the quiet and privacy we thought we were trying to escape. Only the most affluentcan afford to abandon the technological umbilicus andhire personal assistants to continue to compose thestream of “tweets” emanating into the ether. The rest of us are looking for ways to escape the ever-beeping Twit- ter. As one of the more underprivileged “Twitterati” re-cently wrote: “I wish I didn’t feel the need to write point-less things here.” And interestingly, “I wish I was rich andhad personal assistants.” What for? To sit and post“tweets” on his behalf so he could be rid of them. Ironic?Indeed. I am off to go buy a new book.Rabbi David B. Cohen

All a Twitter? Not So Fast.

The Social Action Donation for June is…

Backpacks & Back to School Supplies

Please drop off donations in the collection bin inSinai’s foyer.Items will be donated to the SDC Family Shelter

A phenomenon, new towestern society, is a search for transcendent experience via mys- tical read-ings and/ormeditativepractices. Arelationshipwith the transcen-dent is of course es-sential toreligion. But I have attained to this state, since earliest child-hood, by reading the Bible. I be-lieved, and continue to believe, in the authenticity of the encounterwith God of Abraham, Moses and the prophets. As we are to feel that it is we who went forth fromEgypt in the Seder experience, wecan attain to transcendence bybelieving in forbears who had thedirect experience of communicat-ing with the Almighty. Early Re-formers made a sharp contrastbetween the Bible, which they con-sidered divine, and Talmudic dis-course, a collection of opinions,most of which they did not accept.I was entranced with the Biblicalstories when I attended SundaySchool. We finished the story of Daniel in the third grade (My teacher was a Mrs. Kaufman).The fourth grade began with a new teacher and “Stories from theRabbis”. I felt so let down by thecontrast that I dropped out of Sun-day School. I have since come toappreciate much of rabbinic teaching, but I recognize this as the discourse of learned scholars.In reading the Bible, I sense my-self in contact with the Living God.Rabbi Jay Brickman

The book of Psalms, or

T’hil-lim

, is a source to consider turning to when reflecting on life’s joys andchallenges; times of sorrow and times of celebration, and even eachday of the week – sim-ply for study and medi- tation. They also hold tremendous potential toinspire us. Through the text, we can be inspiredboth in our everydayhappenings, and in ourquest to know and un-derstand God.The final psalm,Psalm 150, has alwaysbeen a psalm that not only inspiresme, but fills me with joy and excite-ment. Though the text is short, ithas the potential to arouse some- thing that exists in many of us – theopportunity to praise God with musi-cal instruments, dance, and all thatis inside of us:

Halleluyah.Praise God in the God’s sanctuary;praise God in the sky, God’sstronghold.Praise God for mighty acts;praise God for God’s exceeding greatness.Praise God with blasts of the horn;praise God with harp and lyre.Praise God with timbrel anddance;praise God with lute and pipe.Praise God with resounding cym-bals;praise God with loud-clashing cymbals.Let all that breathes praise God.Halleluyah.

Translation from JPS Tanakh, 1999

Page 3

June 2009

Are you a musician whohas experienced the thrill of prais-ing God through your instrument?Are you a musician who wants this experience? We’d love toknow who you are!Our commu-nity is blessed with anumber of talentedmusicians like KarenHorwitz, our accom-panist, Bill Rickards,who accompaniesour Shabbat worshipon mandolin, andRabbi Cohen, whobrings his love of mu-sic and his outstanding musician-ship into our prayer, our learning,and our fun. Perhaps you’ve won-dered if you can lend your musi-cal talents to our community? You can!If you love to sing or play amusical instrument, I hope you’llbe in touch soon. Not only wouldwe love knowing all the differentmusical talents that exist in ourSinai family, but we cannot wait to share them with one another,and have a chance to praise God together with playing, singing, anddancing.I look forward to hearing from you soon.

B’shirah

(In song),Cantor Rebecca Robins

Cantor’s Notes Reflections

Praising God with Our Instruments

The Transcendent