INSIDE THIS ISSUE News ............................................................ 2 President’s Message.................................. 3 Cantor’s Notes.......................................... 4 March of The Living.................................. 5 JCC Partnership ........................................ 6 Fund of The Month .................................. 7 Q&A/CBS Staff........................................... 8 Shabbat Mornings...................................... 9 B’nai Mitzvah/SKIP .................................. 10 Youth/Young Family Programming….11 Religious School ...................................... 12 Library........................................................ 13 CBS University/Adult Education ......... 14 The BIG Babka Bake .............................. 15 Sisterhood........................................... 16-17 Men’s Club ................................................ 18 HEARTalk ................................................. 19 Social Action ............................................ 20 Birthdays/Anniversaries ......................... 21 Milestones ................................................. 22 Yahrzeits ................................................... 23 Donations ........................................... 24-25 Ads ........................................................ 26-27 Service and Candle Lighting ................. 28 Rabbi ................................................... Aaron Melman Cantor ..................................................Steven Stoehr Assistant Rabbi ..................................... Ari Averbach Executive Director ............................ Michael Garlin Director of Jewish Life & Learning ................................................. Leann Blue Director of Education .......................... Stacy Ybarra Ritual Director ............. Cantor Raquel P. Gershon Director of Youth & Young Family Engagement................ Matt Rissien Controller ......................................... Susan Karlinsky President .........................................Debbie Solomon Sisterhood President..........................Leatte Gelfeld Men’s Club President ................................. Dan Sher USY President .............................. Rebecca Jacobson
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.
OCTOBER 2018 • VOLUME 65 ISSUE 35
OCTOBER 2018 • VOLUME 65 ISSUE 35
RABBI MELMAN’S MINUTES We have just concluded our holiest season of the year. The last couple of months have allowed us time for introspection and have given us the opportunity to take stock of our lives. It was a period to look back and celebrate the joyous moments we had, whether by ourselves or with family and friends, and also to recount sad or challenging times we had. It is not a simple exercise to look back over the last year and think about what it has meant to us. In the Jewish year that has just concluded, Congregation Beth Shalom was the recipient of two new Torah scrolls. Thanks to Keith and Marci Shapiro and David and Jan Lasky, our synagogue houses two beautiful, easy to read and light Sifrei Torah. The Shapiro Torah came to us just as the holidays were concluding last year and the Lasky Torah was finished and dedicated towards the end of August. How lucky we all are to benefit from these families and these new Sifrei Torah. Until August, I had only witnessed one other Torah completion but was not part of the ceremony, simply an observer. To see a Sefer Torah arrive, with a sofer (scribe), incomplete, knowing that people were going to have a hand in the mitzvah of writing a Torah, was powerful beyond words. This particular Torah is very special to the Lasky family, as it is dedicated in memory of beloved individuals. Those
souls may not have been physically present, but there is no doubt they were with us in the room as each person or family took a turn writing a letter in the Torah.
We are taught that writing just one letter is as if we had written an entire Torah ourselves. As I sat down to write one of the final letters, I held the feather quill along with the sofer. I was in awe. I was overcome with emotion. I had never felt so physically connected to the Torah as I did in that moment. There were tears in my eyes as I thought about the fact that our tradition reminds us that each of us has our own special letter in the Torah. At that moment, I believed the letter Tzaddi was mine. There are moments in life that we don’t forget such as our wedding, the birth of a child, the Bar or Bat Mitzvah of our children. I will add to the list the writing of a Sefer Torah. I will remember staring at our beautiful and ancient text. I will remember the joy on the faces of those assembled. I will think about these moments every time the Torah is read. May each of us in this New Year of 5779 find our own special letter in the Torah and discover something new to learn in our Jewish world.