INSIDE THIS ISSUE What’s Happening @ CBS ......................2 President’s Message ..................................3 Cantor’s Notes ..........................................4 Memorial Plaques/SKIP ............................5 Fundraising ..................................................6 Youth ............................................................7 School ...........................................................8 Adult Learning & Programming........................................ 9-10 Keruv ......................................................... 11 Library ....................................................... 12 Calendar.................................................... 13 Sisterhood .......................................... 14-15 Men’s Club ......................................... 16-17 Anniversaries/Birthdays ........................ 18 Donations ........................................... 19-20 Yahrzeits ................................................... 21 Advertisements ................................. 22-23 Candlelighting and Services .................. 24
Rabbi ................................................... Aaron Melman Cantor .................................................. Steven Stoehr Assistant Rabbi ..................................... Ari Averbach Executive Director ............................ Michael Garlin Director of Jewish Life & Learning ................................................. Leann Blue Director of Education ......................... David Barany Ritual Director ................................ Raquel Gershon Director of Youth Activities................ Matt Rissien Controller ......................................... Susan Karlinsky President .......................................... Larry Grossman Sisterhood President................................. Beth Sher Men’s Club President ............................Scott Rogoff USY President ................................... Brandon Gitles
Rabbi Emeritus .......................................Carl Wolkin Executive Director Emeritus .................................... Harvey Gold, FSA z’l Director of Education Emeritus ................... Rabbi Sander J. Mussman, RJE
SHALOM INFO Shalom is published monthly by Congregation Beth Shalom, 3433 Walters, Northbrook, Illinois 60062-3298 for the exclusive use of its members and staff. All material contained herein is the property of Congregation Beth Shalom.
NOVEMBER 2016 • VOLUME 49, ISSUE 16 Rabbi Melman
RABBI MELMAN’S MINUTES With the Jewish holidays in the rearview mirror, we look forward to another holiday, truly one of my favorites. I remember quite clearly traveling to my grandparents, in Rochester, NY, every year for Thanksgiving. I loved the celebration and truly enjoyed the time we had each year. Thanksgiving is the quintessential American yontif. It is the great American holiday and I look forward to it each year. It is a time for friends, family, food and of course, football and it allows us think about the things for which we are thankful. The Pilgrim Fathers who, according to American tradition, founded Thanksgiving were deeply immersed in Judaic culture. They loved the Hebrew Bible, the study of it, and they knew its language well. Jewish people who live in New England should be especially proud of the fact that this purely American holiday, Thanksgiving, began right here and has roots which lie in the distant Jewish past. The early settlers called their Plymouth Colony “Little Israel” and this was no accident. They even compared Governor William Bradford to Moses. They felt that they had fled lands of oppression and had found a new home, just as the Israelites had once fled Egyptian slavery, journey through the desert and finally settled in the Holy Land. The Pilgrims also recalled their emigration from Holland and compared this to the return of the Jews from Babylonia to Israel under the leadership of the Biblical figures, Ezra and Nechemiah. The prayers of the early Puritans revealed the strong influence of our Hebrew Bible. We are told that the prayer composed by Governor-to-be Bradford, after the arrival at Cape Cod, included a great many passages from the book of Deuteronomy, the Psalms and even the Passover Haggadah – “You shall recite as follows before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy
labor upon us... The Lord freed us from Egypt wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.” According to the record, the first marriage ceremony in the new colony, held on May 21, 1621, was conducted in a manner “most consonant to the Scriptures, Ruth IV.” This is a possible reference to the statement of Boaz, who, when he declared his intention to marry Ruth, “I am also acquiring Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife, so as to perpetuate the name of the deceased upon his estate, that the name of the deceased may not disappear from among his kinsmen and from the gate of his home town. You are witnesses today.” And the elders answered, “WE are witnesses; the Lord makes the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and Leah who built up the house of Israel.” We understand, from the association the Pilgrims had with the Bible and the traditions of Israel, that their Thanksgiving Festival would be patterned after the Jewish festivals of thanksgiving for abundance and harvest as found in the Torah, namely, Shavuot, the festival of the first fruits, and especially Sukkot, the festival of ingathering. In his preface to his "History of the Plymouth Plantation", Governor Bradford wrote, “I have had a longing desire to see with my own eyes something of that most ancient language and holy tongue, in which the Law and oracles of God were written and in which God and angels spoke to the holy patriarchs of old time.” This was followed by some twenty-five biblical passages in the original Hebrew with their English translations. The early American Puritan colonists were so steeped in the Bible that it molded all their thinking and colored their language and influenced their festive occasions. How can we possibly do less? My best wishes for a wonderful and joyous Thanksgiving.