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S EPTEMB ER 2014 | ELUL 5774-TISHR EI 5 7 7 5
Th i s Mo n t h @ C h i z u k A m u n o
Our Symbolic Center
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read recently that TripAdvisor has named the Mickve Israel synagogue in Savannah, Georgia as the most popular travel attraction in the state. Rabbi Ron Shulman
Welcome Back BBQ Shabbat Dinner and Services Friday, September 5 • Dinner, 5 p.m. • Shabbat services follow
Let’s get together for a BBQ dinner and welcome each other back at the start of a new synagogue and school year. Come casual and comfortable. Following dinner in the courtyard, we’ll welcome Shabbat at Kabbalat
Shabbat Minyan, 6:15 p.m., or New Shabbat Service at 6:30 p.m. Contact the synagogue office to make your reservations. Fee: $15 per person or $36 per family.
New Shabbat
New Shabbat A.M.
“And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you…” (Ezekiel 36:26) New Shabbat is our joyous, informal contemporary Friday night service with instrumental music. Come and enjoy an upbeat Shabbat celebration of prayer, song, and insight. Using a special prayer book that includes Hebrew transliteration and English reflection, New Shabbat is enjoyed by adults and children, families, and individuals. We will gather for our next New Shabbat service on October 17.
New Shabbat A.M. is a joyous and reflective Shabbat morning celebration of prayer, song accompanied by instrumental music, and insight. Using a special prayer book that includes Hebrew transliteration and English reflection, New Shabbat A.M. seeks to facilitate personal prayer and communal celebration in a concise hour and one-half user-friendly service, during which we talk personally, read and study Torah, and grow in our own synagogue skills. Our next New Shabbat A.M. service will take place on October 25.
Friday, September 5 • 6:30 p.m.
Locals attribute this to surprise. Visitors to Savannah don’t expect to find a Jewish community in that part of the country. Many of us often include synagogue visits when we travel. On our family’s vacation this summer we visited the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, famous as the first American synagogue built in 1759. Exploring synagogues roots us when we are not at home. Learning about different synagogue histories, cultural traditions, and communities connects us. We feel gratified when we see older synagogues restored and renewed. We are pained when synagogues are vandalized or desecrated. This summer, by my count, there were more than twenty attacks on synagogues in fourteen different countries, including the United States. Alarmingly, antiSemitism and anti-Jewish violence are on the rise all over Europe and in countries around the globe. This is real. Synagogues are often the target when hatred is aimed at Jews. Synagogues represent Jews and Judaism to the larger world. As the reflection of a local Jewish community, each synagogue continued on page 11
Saturday, September 13 10:30 a.m.
NEW SHABBAT
The Rise of Global anti-Semitism and anti-Israel Boycotts ~ A Sukkot Symposium Monday, October 13 • 7:30 p.m. Featuring: Daniel Goldhagen, author of The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism
Dr. Steven David, Johns Hopkins University and a representative of the Anti-Defamation League Monitoring rising episodes of antiSemitic attacks, both verbal and violent, especially in Europe and in relation to Israel, we join together to explore 1
what’s happening, to understand it more deeply, and to consider responses to this disturbing trend. Daniel Goldhagen, a widely respected author who has studied and written extensively about anti-Semitism will be our featured speaker. Dr. Steven David, Professor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University will respond to Mr. Goldhagen’s remarks after which we’ll engage in a larger discussion and consider questions.