INSIDE THIS ISSUE Executive Director’s Message ............... 2 President’s Message.................................. 3 Yom Beth Shalom ..................................... 4 Community-Wide Shabbat Dinner ...... 5 Religious School ........................................ 6 B’nai Mitzvah .............................................. 7 Youth/Young Family Programming ....... 8 Great Round Challah -Take 2 ................ 9 Adult Education/Programming/CBS High..10 Israel in Depth ......................................... 11 Sisterhood........................................... 12-13 L’Shana Tova Greetings ......................... 13 Men’s Club ................................................ 14 Book Chats ............................................... 15 Social Action ............................................ 16 Keruv ......................................................... 17 High Holidays ..................................... 18-19 Calendar/Highlights ................................ 20 Birthdays/Anniversaries ......................... 21 Milestones ................................................. 22 Yahrzeits ................................................... 23 Donations ........................................... 24-25 Ads ........................................................ 26-27 Candle Lighting & Service Times ........ 28
Rabbi ................................................... Aaron Melman Cantor ..................................................Steven Stoehr Assistant Rabbi ............................. Warner Ferratier 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 ……… Eric Golberg Controller ......................................... Susan Karlinsky President ........................................... Tanya Solomon Sisterhood President................... Robyn Rosengard Men’s Club President .............................Steve Elisco USY President ............................... Brandon Wagner Rabbi Emeritus .......................................Carl Wolkin Shalom Designer/Editor .............. Deanne Friedman
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.
September 2019 • VOLUME 74 ISSUE 44
ELUL 5779 | SEPTEMBER 2019 • VOLUME 74 ISSUE 44
RABBI MELMAN’S MINUTES With thanks to Rabbi Mark Zimmerman for the inspiration for this article. As the holidays approach, I find myself asking the question, “What is it that makes Beth Shalom a congregation?” Sure, we all come out to observe the High Holy Days together. Many of us will remain beyond Yom Kippur to celebrate Sukkot and even to dance together on Simchat Torah and enjoy ice cream. We will experience a wonderful sense of ruach (spirit) and friendship during that sacred time. Nevertheless, I wonder, what keeps us linked together as a congregation the rest of the year? Elie Wiesel once asked, “What does it mean to be a congregation? It means to care about each other. Pray? We can pray at home. We come together as a congregation in order to share in each other’s lives and in order to share in the life of the Jewish people - past, present and future.” There was an occasion when the Gerer Rebbe decided to question one of his disciples. “How is Moshe Yaakov doing?” The disciple didn’t know. “What?” shouted the Rebbe, “You don’t know? You pray under the same roof’? You study the same book? You serve the same God? Yet you tell me that you don’t know how Moshe Yaakov is, whether he needs help or advice or comforting? How can that be?” This little story reminds us what lies at the heart of a sacred community. It shows that each of us can share in every other person’s life, and not leave anyone to themselves; not in sorrow and not in joy. Elie Wiesel was right but, in our consumerdriven society, we increasingly only look to the rabbi or other synagogue professionals to provide that kind of concern, instead of seeing it as a responsibility that we all share for one another. When I visit someone in the hospital, I often learn that besides the family, I was the only one to have visited them during their illness. This should not be. Maybe it is because many people find it difficult to get entwined with someone
else’s tzuris, or we just don’t know the right words to say, but I usually find that just being there is the greatest help of all. As the rabbis teach us, when you visit someone who is ill, you take away 1/60th of their illness. My colleague Rabbi Ed Feinstein beautifully wrote, “Ancient Greek democracy created the ‘citizen.’ Renaissance Europe invented the ‘gentleman’. Colonial America produced the ‘frontiersman’. Each human civilization, it seems, fashions its own unique character type. And ours is no exception. Contemporary America has spawned the ‘consumer’.” Henry James called America a “hotel culture.” “A hotel - where you eat and sleep, but never fully unpack and move in. You never set down roots. You never really own the place. You can mess up your room knowing that while you’re out, someone else will come and straighten up. You care nothing for the people who live next door for soon you’ll be checking out and moving on. So, too, the consumer joins, but never belongs. Never will they allow the obligations that come with relationships, values or community to compromise their sovereignty. They have no attachments, only a series of limited-liability partnerships…In a moment of crisis, they will call for Emergency Roadside Judaism. Otherwise, they keep their distance.” In our religious life, we need Jews who are more than just consumers of services. Beth Shalom is no different. And while we need people to help us build and maintain our community, we only thrive when we have real commitment and concern for one another. If we only pay our dues, drop off our kids, and occasionally visit, we can’t expect to be part of a genuine congregation. Yet it is precisely that sense of kehillah, or community connectedness, that we are all striving for and are yearning to create. God willing, with all of our involvement, our concern for one another, and our support, together we can continue to make CBS into just that kind of congregation. Shanah Tova u’Metuka! A Happy, Healthy, and Sweet New Year. 5780