INSIDE THIS ISSUE Holiday Boutique ...................................... 2 President’s Message.................................. 3 Cantor’s Notes.......................................... 4 New Members & News .......................... 5 50th Anniversary ....................................... 6 Holidays ....................................................... 7 Hineynu ................................................... 8-9 Youth & Young Family Programming.10 B’nai Mitzvah ............................................ 11 School ........................................................ 12 See Whats Happening ........................... 13 Adult Education/Programming............. 14 HAZAK ..................................................... 15 Sisterhood........................................... 16-17 Men’s Club ................................................ 18 Library........................................................ 19 Milestones ................................................. 20 Birthdays & Anniversaries..................... 21 Donations ........................................... 22-24 Yahrzeits .................................................. 25 Ads ........................................................ 26-27 Service Times ........................................... 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 Activities................ Matt Rissien Controller ......................................... Susan Karlinsky President ......................................... Debbie Solomon Sisterhood President..........................Leatte Gelfeld Men’s Club President ................................. Dan Sher USY President ................................ David Zelkowitz
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 2017 • VOLUME 55 ISSUE 25
OCTOBER 2017 • VOLUME 55 ISSUE 25
RABBI MELMAN’S MINUTES This morning I gave my son the tallit that Elisa bought for me before our wedding as well as the set of tefillin we bought him prior to his Bar Mitzvah. He will have a special session in school today with two community rabbis helping the students to understand the mitzvah of tallit and tefillin. As we are just a few weeks away from Jordan’s Bar Mitzvah, I cannot tell you how impressed I am with his excitement for these mitzvot. As Jordan is now in 7th grade, I have watched him grow as a person and as a Jew. Jordan spent this past summer, as he has over the last few years, at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and this is his second to last year at Solomon Schechter. We are blessed on the North Shore to have wonderful public schools. We are even more blessed at Beth Shalom to have a great new Director of Education who is helping transform our Religious School into the magnificent educational environment that we all desire it to be. That being said, there is nothing that can replace an educational environment which a young child has daily tefillot (prayer), Hebrew language instruction, and the constant flow of Jewish values. This is the great benefit of a Jewish day school. The same can be said of Camp Ramah. The education that one receives at Solomon Schechter matches that of an East Coast Prep school. Indeed we are
blessed with great public schools in our area but they do not match the overall spectrum of education at Schechter. Studies have shown that children who attend Jewish day school or Jewish summer camp have a much higher percentage of involvement in Jewish life later on in their lives. For children whose lives have been filled with Judaism outside the home, the percentages are in the 90s as it pertains to some degree of Jewish leadership later on in life. I have to confess, I never went to Jewish day school. However, if I could do it all over again, I would make a different choice. It may not be a choice for everyone but there is no doubt that a Jewish day school education increases Jewish identity and thus helps to secure our future as a people. The truth is, it is not the Chabadniks who stand on the street asking if you put on teffilin or waved a lulav and etrog who will secure our future, it is our own children. The educational and summer camp opportunities that the Conservative Movement provides are nationally recognized and praised. Every time I visit Camp Ramah or Solomon Schechter I am overcome with a tremendous sense of pride. Until now, it has simply been pride felt as a Jewish leader but, as of last week, it is a new sense of pride as a Jewish parent who feels a greater sense of confidence in the future of the Jewish people.
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