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Rabbi’s Corner,
Café Sinai
2
Cantor’s Notes,
Reflections
3
Lifelong Jewish Learning
4
School Events, Adult Learning
5
President’s Message,
Night Hike
6
Greening of Sinai,Brotherhood News,Women of Sinai
7
January Calendar
8
February Calendar
9
Social Action,Sinai Outside
10
My Sinai
11
James Kugel
12
Chesed, Purim
13
Donations
14
KOACH
15
Sendik’s Scrip Program
16
Yahrzeits
17
Shabbat & Holiday Schedule
SINAI NEWS
Rabbi David B. Cohen • Cantor Rebecca Robins • Rabbi Emeritus Jay R. Brickman
Director of Lifelong Jewish Learning Sherry H. Blumberg, Ph.D., R.J.E.
Director of Administration Karen Lancina • Program Coordinator Jen Friedman • Sinai News Nicole Sether
Congregation Sinai • 8223 N. Port Washington Road• Fox Point, WI 53217
414.352.2970• 414.352.0944 (fax)• www.congregationsinai.org
Shabbat Vayechi
Genesis 47:28
—
50:26
Jan 1 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmJan 2 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Shemot
Exodus 1:1
—
6:1
Jan 8 Minyan Katan 5:30 pmFamily Shabbat Service 7 pmJan 9 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Vaera
Exodus 6:2
—
9:35
Jan 15 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmJan 16 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Bo
Exodus 10:1
—
13:16
Jan 22
Shabbat Service 6:15 pm
Jan 23 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Beshalach
Exodus 13:17
—
17:16
Jan 29 Music Shabbat Service 6:15 pmJan 30 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Tu B’Shevat Seder and
Havdallah 4 pm
Shabbat Yitro
Exodus 18:1
—
20:23
Feb 5 Minyan Katan 5:30 pm3rd Grade & CongregationalShabbat Dinner 6 pmFamily Shabbat Service 7 pm
January/February 2010 • Tevet
-Adar 5770
In this issue
Feb 6 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 amDr. James Kugel 7:30 pm
Shabbat Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1
—
24:18
Feb 12 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmFeb 13 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Terumah
Exodus 25:1
—
27:19
Feb 19 Shabbat Learning-ImmigrationProgram 6:15 pmFeb 20 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 am
Shabbat Tetzaveh
Exodus 27:20
—
30:10
Feb 26 Shabbat Service 6:15 pmFeb 27 Torah Study 8 amMorning Minyan 9:30 amMa'ariv & Megillah Reading 6:30 pmCafé Sinai 7 pm
In the months before Julie and I moved to Milwaukee,
news of our imminent arrival began to spread. ―They’re fromCalifornia,‖ said some. ―I hear they are vegetarian,‖ said oth-
ers.Both were at best half-truths. While we moved herefrom California, only Julie actually grew up there; Iam from New Jersey. And while we had beenvegetarian in the several years prior to Michael
and Sophie’s birth, their gestational need for pro-
tein brought us back to meat with a vengeance.There was some disappointment among the most environmentally committed in our com-munity, when they discovered they we were notideologically committed fellow travelers.Then a funny thing happened: as ourchildren began to grow, we became more environ-mentally conscious and committed. We recycle.Our kids participate in twice yearly river clean-upson the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic Rivers. We use biodegrad-able soap. We drive a hybrid car.We are not alone in this transformation. Over the past
two years, Congregation Sinai has become a ―green‖ commu-
nity. We have a new multi stage boiler that uses less energy.
We’ve switched over to energy saving light bulbs throughout the building. We’ve cut down our use of paper by relying more
on electronic communications. We even buy less water in plas- tic containers, and less paper plates, preferring to use reus-able utensils. We planted a garden last summer that yieldedbeautiful gourds, corn, and other ornaments for the Sukkah.These efforts are more than a fad. At its core, Judaismhas always taught that we are to live in harmony with the landand with nature. The first chapter of Genesis is often trans-lated to say that God has given us dominion over the earth; the Jewish translation stresses that we are given the responsi-
Rabbi’s Corner
Page 2 January/February 2010
bility to be good stewards over the land. A midrash depictsGod giving Adam and Eve a tour of the garden and saying,
―this is the last world I am going to make, so take good careof it.‖
Hopefully, the world community will find commonground through efforts to curb greenhouse gasemissions that threaten to accelerate globalwarming. Closer to home, there is so much wecan do as a community and as individuals. I urge
you to follow the progress of Sinai’s ―Greening Committee‖ under the leadership of Deb Scher-
mer and to join the committee if you are ready todevote time and effort.
The upcoming holiday of Tu B’Shevat is a
most propitious time to think about the environ-ment. Originally the first day of the fiscal year for trees (back when the age of a tree would define
when one could eat its fruit), Tu B’Shevat was
appropriated by the Kaballists
–
Jewish mystics
–
who saw acorrespondence between the natural world and the spiritualrealm.
I’ve been participating in a multi
-year program through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality along with thirty-seven other rabbis from the various movements. One practi-cal product of this journey has been the creation of a Tu
B’Shevat Seder. Modeled on the Tu B’Shevat seders pio-neered by the Medieval mystics, Sinai’s Tu B’Shevat seder
includes music, introspective texts, and delicious food. We
are holding our third Tu B’Shevat Seder at 4:00 pm on Sat-
urday, January 30
th
, in the Worship and Learning Center.Please RSVP to
Rabbi David Cohen
The Greening of Sinai
Saturday, February 27, 2010
6:30 Ma'ariv and Megillah service7:00 Dinner and musicSHUK: local artisans &committee fundraisers7:45 DVD showingCost: $18.00Celebrate Purim this year atCafe Sinai @ Shushan: an evening of Persian dining & music followed by a big screen DVDof Israel at Eurovision (an anthology of Israel's live performances at the annualEuropean song festival) 1973-2004.Come dressed in your best 70's costume,prizes will be awarded.RSVP by Feb 5th:http://cafesinai.eventbrite.com/
The rabbis teach us
mi shen-
ichnas Adar, marbim b’simcha
! WhenAdar enters, our happiness increases!The rabbis must have known there wasa place in the world like Milwaukee, WI.
Who doesn’t need a little extra happi-
ness in the midst of a cold winter? Ok,
ok…maybe that wasn’t ex-
actly their plan.The story of Purimis a great one
–
it includesall the necessary charac- ters to make for interesting reading (worth repeating year after year!). There is abeautiful queen, an evilvillain, a simple but heroicmember of the commu-
nity…and there are, of
course, eunuchs a-plenty!The telling of this incredi-ble story is fun; shouting and noise-making, costumed silliness abounding
–
who cannot say that every custom of Purim is linked to incredible, almostoverwhelming joy and happiness? And
why shouldn’t it be so?
The Shabbat before Purim isknown as
Shabbat Zachor
, the Sabbathof Remembrance. On this Shabbat weread the story of the Amelekites, thedescendants of Amelek, and foes of theJewish people. We are taught that Ha-man (boo and hiss here) is a descen-dant of these people. What
Shabbat Zachor
does for us as a people, in link-ing the story of Purim with the story of the Amelekites, is remind us that notonly once, or twice, or ten times for thatmatter, were the Jews the target of ha- tred and destruction in history. Perhaps the abundance of joy we are meant tofeel then, is a reminder of our freedomand our continued peoplehood.As a people, we are obligated to feel joy and also, to spread that hap-piness around. The tradition of
mish-loach manot
is just that
–
a tradition of
Page 3 January/February 2010
helping others to increase their happi-ness at this festive time. Under the lead-ership of member Mari Katz in 5770,Congregation Sinai is happy to send
mishloach manot
to many of our congre-gants who might benefit from their happi-ness increasing this Purim. Each year,as a congregation we deliver
mishloach manot
to mem-bers who have lost family in the recent past, are feeling ill or under the weather, arebusy with the everydaystresses of new babies andcan use some extra happi-ness in the winter months.We fill festively decoratedbags with homemadehamentaschen, fruit andsweets
–
and fun Purimmasks and surprises, with the hope of, through a simple gesture,helping to fulfill the teaching of oursages,
mishenichnas Adar, marbim
b’simcha!
I sincerely hope you’ll consider
helping us spread the joy this Purim. If you and your family are willing to deliverone bag, you can help make this
mitzvah
We’ll email you back with all the details
about when to pick up your bag to deliverit to a member of our congregation dur-ing the week of Purim. Know someonewho you think can use this gift of joy?
Don’t hesitate to let us know. We are so
grateful to have congregants like you that make holiday time so meaningful forone another.Best wishes to you and yours for a Chag Purim Sameach
–
a Happy Purim! Can’t
wait to see you in costume around Sinaifor Purim!Cantor Rebecca Robins
Cantor’s Notes
Increasing our Happiness at Purim
Although we are quite re-mote in our political ideologies, myfavorite columnist, who writes for theNew York Times, is David Brooks. Heis bright, well learned, and arguescogently. Sarah Palin, on the otherhand, despite her popularity with acertain segment of the population, isan individualwith little edu-cation andmodest intel-lectual prow-ess. One of the reasonsour nation isin its presenteconomic dif-ficulty is thatit has been managed by individualswith limited understanding. Not eve-
ryone agrees with the President’s
political philosophy, but it is hard toargue that he is not well read andhighly intelligent. A professor at YaleLaw School reported that in all hisyears of teaching, he had never en-countered a student as bright as Ba-rak Obama.The democratic notion that
VOX POPULI VOX DEI i.e. that ―the
voice of the people is the voice of
God‖ is not in accord with traditional
Jewish belief. The expression AM
HAARETS, ―people of the land‖ is not
a term of respect. By the first cen- tury, there was universal education in the Jewish community. The brightestand most learned went on to becomerabbis, and it was the rabbis, not thepopulace, that established rules for the community. Different rabbis haddifferent political philosophies, but the fact that all were intelligent andlearned enabled them to work outeffective compromise positions.I would suggest that both theI.Q. results and the academic recordsof all political candidates be available to the public prior to elections.Rabbi Jay Brickman
Reflections
Rabbi’s Bible Study
Rabbi Brickman has held a class on reading the Bible on Wednesday mornings at 9:30since 1955. We began with the first chapter of Genesis and have just begun the Bookof Nehemiah. Newcomers are welcome to join the class at this time (or any time). Areading knowledge of Hebrew is helpful but not essential.
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