Shofar November 2010 by Otir

Shofar Cheshvan/Kislev 5771

Jewish Family Congregation www.jewishfamilycongregation.org

November 2010

From the Rabbi’s Desk May NOT be reproduced without written permission from Rabbi Carla Freedman. Anyone who has attended a Bar or Bat Mitzvah here knows that I usually take a few minutes to talk about the origins of our three Torah scrolls. Each of the scrolls has an interesting background, and I think that knowing about this increases our respect for the process of reading from them, which is of course at the centre of every Bar or Bat Mitzvah service. The scroll that we use the most is the Czechoslovakian one. The Sefardic scroll is the hardest to handle, because of its metal container. The “tiny Torah” is the hardest to read because the lettering is, well, tiny. So the Czech scroll is the one we use on a regular basis. It has very beautiful, and I think, very clear calligraphy. In our building, on a Sanctuary wall just outside the Oneg Room, you will see the framed certificate we got along with the scroll, from the Westminster Torah Trust, in 1981. The certificate tells us that our scroll was written in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1838. And while we do indeed think of it as “our” scroll, the paperwork from the Scrolls Trust says that we have it on permanent loan, which can be revoked if we do not take good care of this Torah scroll. They expect us to have it checked periodically by a scribe, and to house it safely and securely when it is not in use. You may be sure that we do everything we can to protect our three sifray Torah. That care involved having the scroll checked by a scribe a few years ago, and many of us got to participate in the cleaning of the surface, under the scribe’s supervision. We learned that it takes about a year for a scribe to write a Torah scroll, that the process is very rigorous, and that the accuracy of the text is assured through all kinds of crosschecking and careful reference to an existing scroll. So we were astonished, in early June, to come upon an error in the scroll. This was discovered when a Bat Mitzvah student was practising from the scroll shortly before From the Rabbi’s Desk Service Schedule Oneg Schedule Early Childhood Center The Religious School JiFTY Social Action Committee JFC Adults

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her big day, and she stumbled over a little word that had not previously troubled her. Her tutor stepped closer to see what the problem was, and saw that what should have been a tav, making the “t” sound, was written as a bet, making the “b” sound. The matter was brought to me, and I confirmed what our teacher and her student had discovered: there was an error in our Czech scroll. How could that be? How is it that no one has noticed this, in a scroll that was supposedly in regular use for about a century in Czechoslovakia? More on this in a few moments. We contacted our scribe friend, and later this summer, our Ritual Committee chairman, Michael Salpeter, took the scroll to him. He checked it, agreed with us that there was a mistake in the scroll, and he corrected it. He actually cut out the mistaken word and replaced it with the correct one, using a scrap from the margin of the scroll’s own parchment. And while he was working, he told Michael that he thinks the scroll is not as old as we have been led to believe. In fact, he said that the calligraphy is not the typical Czech lettering, and that the parchment panels are not sewn together in the usual Czech style. He speculated that the error may have been known, and that, because of this, the scroll was not in active use as we have thought. Perhaps it was sequestered, and that is how it survived the Nazis. Michael reported this to the Ritual Committee, whose members were amazed by it all. Meanwhile, the Ritual Committee has been trying to find out more about the place that it came from, the city of Brno. We are doing this because we have been asked by the Scrolls Trust to mark the 30th anniversary of our acquisition of the scroll, which we plan to do on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day in the spring of 2011. Each of the scrolls loaned out by the Trust has a number on it, and ours is scroll number 1242. The congregation was told at the time that the scroll came to us, that it was one of the last of the usable scrolls in the collection. That would suggest that the scroll was in use, despite the flaw

Yahrzeit/Annivs/Birthdays Ask the Rabbi Kids Ask the Rabbi JFC Classified Rabbi Carla’s 13 Years Donations to JFC Donations Form Calendar

(Continued on page 14)

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

SERVICE SCHEDULE

Jewish Family Congregation 111 Smith Ridge Road P.O. Box 249 South Salem, NY 10590 Phone: (914) 763-3028 Fax: (914) 763-3069 e-mail: jfc@bestweb.net

November 2010

NOVEMBER Friday, Nov 5/Heshvan 29 Saturday, Nov 6

7:30 pm 10:00 am

Parshat Toldot Bat Mitzvah of Kerry Schwartz

jewishfamilycongregation.org

Rabbi Carla Freedman jfc@bestweb.net Cantor Kerry Ben-David cantorbd@aol.com

School Director Leslie Gottlieb lesliejo0312@gmail.com Early Childhood Center Director Fern Tannenbaum jfceccenter@gmail.com Temple Administrator Jolie Levy jfcoffc@gmail.com Board Of Trustees Richard Mishkin, Co-President 914-764-8305; Jeanette Sanders, Co-President 914-763-0311; Mark Lavin, Vice President; Polly Schnell, Vice President; Bill Pink, Secretary; Andrew Serby, Treasurer; Carrie Kane David Marceau Beth Tessler Debra Verbeke Elisa Zuckerberg and Johanna Perlman, Past President

Shofar Editor Jolie Levy

Friday, Nov 12/ Kislev 6

7:30 pm 10:00 am

Parshat Vayetze Kristallnacht observed Bat Mitzvah of Sierra Shafer

Friday, Nov 19/ Kislev 13

6:30 pm 7:30 pm

Youth Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rock Shabbat Parshat VaYishlakh

Friday, Nov 26/ Kislev 20

7:30 pm

Parshat Vayayshev

Saturday, Nov 13

ONEG HOSTS November 6 Gail Ascher Thomas Minnock Debbie & Russell Monaco

BOARD HOST: David Marceau (203) 438-2177

November 13 Patterson Shafer Beth Tessler

Please find a substitute if you cannot host your assigned Oneg.

November 20 TBA

Then contact the JFC Office with the names of the new hosts.

November 27 TBA

Please contact your Board Host if you have any questions.

The next 18-month host schedule will be sent out shortly!

Capital Campaign

Statements Will Be Sent to All Members With Unfilled Pledges in November. Payments due December 15. Please Pay Promptly.

Cheshvan/Kislev 5771

Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

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JFC WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS Heather and Michael Levinson of Goldens Bridge and their children,

Daniel and Nate The Religious School is proud to welcome: KINDERGARTEN: Anna Bellinson, Adam Andrade, Andrew Glass, Abbey Gryzmala, Abel Hansonbrook, Nate Levinson, Emma Richman, Noah Rose 1ST GRADE:

Julia Besterman

2ND GRADE:

Ellie Carter, Greg Friedlander

3RD GRADE:

Maxwell Buchman, Eve Chipman, Ava Goodstein, Alexa Helburn, Tyler Leitner, Daniel Levinson

4TH GRADE:

Jacob Wetchler

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

November 2010

Cheshvan/Kislev 5771

Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

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Early Childhood Center By Fern Tannenbaum

“It is not your obligation to complete the task but neither are you free to desist from it,” Rabbi Tarfon wrote this centuries ago and today as Jews we apply that guideline to doing our part in making this world a better place. Here at JFC Early Childhood Center we take this principle very seriously. We realize that we must do our part in making the world better. Even if we cannot complete the task we must try, for at the ECC our role is not only to do good things but it is to ensure that there will always be others to continue the work of helping well into the future. Therefore, we must also teach our children to see this as their responsibility. The ECC is very fortunate to be the recipient of a 3- year grant from the Westchester Jewish Family Services called S.E.E.D. or Supporting Early Emotional Development. This grant provides the ECC with the services of Ellen Weisberg, a licensed social worker and early childhood educator. She provides support for our children, our teachers and our parents. In addition to helping the members of our school, one of the goals of this grant is to promote Jewish emotional development through a Jewish curriculum. In Judaism we learn many pro-social behaviors from the Torah: how to be fair, how to help others, how to be kind and the way we should share. We call these behaviors mitzvot. In order to teach the children mitzvot each month the teachers will talk to the children about Jewish ways of healing the world. This month they are discussing the mitzvah of “Gemilut Chasidim” or doing acts of loving kindness. The teachers notice and praise little things that the children do each day whether it is getting a friend a tissue, sharing a toy or just comforting someone who is sad. The teachers then remind the children that they did “chesed” or kindness which is a mitzvah. These interactions have a powerful effect on the children. The children realize that they are capable of helping other people feel better and from this experience, they learn about the value of compassion. More importantly, the children see themselves as compassionate beings who feel great about the positive impact that they have on others and they will want to continue doing these good things. Finally, the children make the connection that helping others is a special Jewish responsibility. Our Early Childhood Center Committee understands the importance of teaching our children about doing mitzvot. This year they are planning to continue the mitzvah projects we successfully started last year with the children. Our classes collected money, food and clothing for the Community Center of Northern Westchester to help our neighbors in need. This year we hope to double our results. Our parents work hard to give their children a strong foundation for character development and one of the best ways they do this is by teaching their children through the example they give of helping others. Our parents are caring and giving to their family, their friends, the community and especially the ECC. This year, to help the school the ECC committee is having a Ladies Bazaar on Wednesday

November 10th at 7:00 PM to raise money for much needed equipment. I urge you to come to the Ladies Bazaar, shop for your Chanukah gifts, buy raffle tickets to win prizes and help the ECC at the same time. It is important to the ECC to teach the whole child. We strive to help our children to grow in every area of development including cognitively, physically and in language. In the areas of social and emotional growth we also teach character development. Our children are learning to share, be cooperative and take turns so they will grow to be successful members of society. We also teach them mitzvot so they will grow to be what we often describe as “mentschen,” people who are good, kind and helpful. Our obligation to develop these Jewish social behaviors is not to complete the task. We realize that our children are still growing and will learn much more about their responsibilities in the many years to come from their families, Temple, schools and community. Although we can hope that our students will do good deeds in the future, we want to provide them with the tools to do these mitzvot now. In this way we are providing the children with a good foundation of character development which will lead to a better world for everyone.

Don’t forget to stop in and check out the JFC Gift Shop! The items change frequently! If you are interested in purchasing anything, please let us know in the JFC Office.

h is Chanuka st !! Dec. 1

AND it’s never too late to check out this awesome shopping card program!

It’s so EASY! Tons of vendors you already love! And, of course, you’re helping JFC. Call the JFC Office for details!

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November 2010

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

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The Religious School by Leslie Gottlieb

I once read that Jewish educators sit at the right hand of Gd. As a southpaw, I also wonder if Gd and I would bump arms if seated together in a booth at a restaurant, but I don’t spend too much time worrying about that one. We could figure it out, I suppose. And as my mother used to say, “You’ll cross that bridge when you come to it.” Sound advice, surely. Our rabbi, surely has a seat at Gd’s right side, speaking metaphorically again… and that she is right-handed, well, there will be no bumping elbows for them!!! Some gals have all the luck. Carla is a rabbi in the truest sense of the word--- she’s a teacher first and foremost of the highest order. The reality is that Carla is one of the finest teachers with whom I have had the pleasure to work in any school setting. As we celebrate the completion of her 13th year at JFC, a milestone indeed and a special number in the life of a Jew, I have spent a lot of time reflecting upon her impact on JFC and on me, as well. Most of you don’t get to see the rabbi in action on a daily basis, but I do. I hear her talking to congregants in person and over the phone; I hear her speaking in hushed tones to those grieving; I see her bending down to entertain youngsters with funny questions and a screwed up nose--- or leading Shabbat services with the nursery school kids, or comforting an anxious Religious School parent, or patiently working one on one with her Bnai Mitzvah students on their speeches--- and I witness so many other special moments in her day that no one else may have the privilege to observe. To hear her talk about her constituents is to hear a very generous point of view— always. From where I sit, Carla always looks to be obliging and gracious. Her attitude toward all of you is something to behold! To work in a neighboring office to a rabbi is a great thing. To have the wisdom of a rabbi just a few steps from my desk—or a phone call away—whenever I need her guidance or the black licorice with which she supplies me-has helped me professionally and personally more times than I can count. Our relationship singularly enhanced my life. I know her presence here has made a major difference in the lives of so many others, too. A few years ago, a dozen or so high school students were nearing the end of their grade 10 & 11 “10-Pack” class with her as their teacher. They petitioned her to continue working with them right through till the end of their senior year of high school. Without a second thought, she agreed to meet with them on yet another evening of the week of the month. I told her that she could handily combine the new 10- Pack kids with these older teens to reduce her workload--- and she flat out refused. “They really want me to do this,” she told me. And there you have it. Rabbi as teacher. Teaching is her passion and an instinctive talent as I see it. And all of our children have been the beneficiaries of her energies. Carla is a constant source of inspiration to me. Whenever I have a problem or a question, she gives me all of her time. I never once have felt rushed in her presence. She is

upbeat and programmed, it seems, to be optimistic even when things are not looking so bright. She helps fuel creative ideas for the Religious School and always provides me with the proper support that helps me to create new programs. Back in the day when I approached her about the Shekel Shop, the Student Mentoring Program, the Youth Group, Kids Knesset--- and so much more--- she backed me up and became my best PR agent. She has a way of analyzing situations in a very constructive way—always. She is a colleague, a sister, an aunt, a mother, a teacher, and a friend all wrapped up in one distinguished woman of valor. At a Bar or Bat Mitzvah service, Carla always says that at JFC we not only put the kids through their paces, but explains that we put the parents through their paces, as well. Many of you can recall hearing these words from her. It is at this time in the service that one or both parents go up to the front of the sanctuary to speak on behalf of their child. Well, Carla does not have her family here, but for Jeanne. We are her family. And although I could go on with anecdotes for quite awhile to demonstrate each attribute she holds, I will conclude by saying that we, at JFC, are very lucky to have Carla’s leadership and wisdom. Without judging us, she tries to infuse our lives with the love she feels for our shared Jewish heritage and Israel. Over the years, she has lifted me out of a state of spiritual somnambulism and helped me to understand that being Jewish is a joyous thing. I know I am not alone in these feelings.

Here’s to many more years of Carla’s rabbinic and personal leadership at JFC!

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November 2010

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

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JiFTY

JiFTY Jewish Family Congregation Youth Group Grades 8-12 All are welcome. Please join us at our scheduled meetings twice monthly on Thursdays 7:15-8:15 PM Activities include: participation in NFTY-NAR (North American Federation of Temple Youth-New York Area Region), social action projects, celebrating holidays, overnight Shul-Ins at JFC and other area synagogues-- and lots more!

JiFTY is a student-run organization led by our Youth Group Board. Leslie Gottlieb, Facilitator Questions? Email Andrew Blum at ajb1695@optonline.net

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

November 2010

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

JFC Social Action Committee by Debbie Lavin The Social Action Committee just completed a successful Midnight Run to help the homeless on October 2. We brought much appreciated clothing and bagged meals to upwards of 50 men and women. It was a meaningful experience for all involved, especially the B'nai Mitzvah students who were part of the group. It is truly an eyeopening and gratifying experience. Thanks to all who

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SUPPORT-A-WALK -- OCTOBER 3, 2010 Sixteen people representing JFC participated in Support Connection's annual Support-A-Walk on October 3rd. Our congregation has been deeply affected by both breast and ovarian cancers and it's wonderful that we could come together, as an extended "family" to help Support Connection provide their much-needed services, for free, to those who are currently dealing with the challenge. Thanks also to everyone at JFC who contributed and/or forwarded the information to friends and family - it made a huge difference - as a team, we raised almost $10,000!!! It's not too late to contribute, our fundraising activities continue: http://www.firstgiving.com/jewishfamilycongregation Here's the team photo, which can also be seen on Facebook (if you're on Facebook, please do tag yourself in this photo): JFC Team

went on the run and made meals: Curt Shulman, Pat Shafer, Sierra Shafer and her friend Kadisha, Beth and Julia Sklarin, Andrew and Jacquie Melinek and Jacquie's friend, Leslie and Claudia Smith, Jeanette Sanders and Debbie Lavin. And thanks to those who made meals to give out: Barbara Boise and her kids, Carrie Kane, Lee Goldstein. And thanks to our drivers: Pat, Andrew and Debbie. We will be planning our next Midnight Run for late winter/early spring. The Social Action Committee is sponsoring the Blood Drive on Thursday, Nov. 11, here in our synagogue. We encourage all those who are willing and able to donate blood to call and make an appointment. We also can take walk-in donors on that day, between 2:30 and 7:00 pm. You can call Debbie Lavin at 232-0756, or email at Debbielav@aol.com It takes just about 1/2 hour to give a pint of blood, but you can save many lives. Please consider giving this gift of life. If you'd like to help out by making calls to potential donors, or help out on the day of the drive, please call Debbie. Finally, JFC was well represented in the fight against Breast Cancer during October. We had a strong team walking in the Oct. 3 Susan G Komen Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk. And on October 16-17, Jeanette Sanders and Johanna Perlman walked 39.3 miles in the 2-day Avon Walk to fight breast cancer. That definitely shows dedication!

From left, bottom row: John Mucciolo, Johanna Perlman, Sadie Perlman, Jan Sanders, Debra Paget Standing: Linda Wildman, Laurie Wolkin, Alan Forst, Barbara Forst, Alice Gottlieb, Allan Gottlieb, Barbara Stern, Lisa Block, Liza Breslin, Peter Breslin, Samantha Berg, Jeff Berg

Sign by Jane Emmer!

Want to help too? Call Debbie Lavin (232-0756) or Jeanette Sanders (763-0311)

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

November 2010

The Early Childhood Center Fireman Tom visits the ECC

ECC SITGO Oct. 8, 2010

Cheshvan/Kislev 5771

Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

. . . The Religious School . . .

An edible torah?

Todah Rabbah from the Religious School to…  Bonnie and Alexander Wattles for an INCREDIBLE job organizing and running the book fair. Also thanks to Glenn and Ben Kurlander for their help.  Jane Emmer, Cheryl Chess, Beth Sklarin and Julie Portnoy for helping with the set up.  Thanks to the families who purchased books for the Religious School Library, and especially the Wattles and Chess/Lichtman families.

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

November 2010

From the Rabbi’s Desk (cont’d) (Continued from page 1)

May NOT be reproduced without written permission from Rabbi Carla Freedman. we discovered, and that the flaw had not been detected. The Scrolls Trust is asking each community that has been given...loaned, more accurately, of course ...one of their scrolls to honour the community from which it came, and even more, to honour the members of that community who died during the Holocaust. And we would like to do that. So we have tried to learn more about Brno, and in the process, we have discovered that there were many little towns around the city itself, from which this scroll may in fact have come. The names of the towns meant nothing to us, so we tried to get more information, from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and lots of other resources. And our knowledge was not increased at all through this process. Over the summer, one of our members, a recent college graduate, was travelling in Europe, and was in Prague. Via the wonders of email, we asked him to go to the Jewish Museum there and do some research on our scroll’s origins, and on the area of Brno itself. He learned that the number on our scroll, 1242, was given to it by the Scrolls Trust in Westminster, England, and that there was another number used in Czechoslovakia. We have been trying to find that original number, which might lead us to further information, but with no success, at least so far. But he did gain access to an amazing document, the Data Base of Holocaust Victims. In it is an alphabetical list of the Jews of Brno who were deported by the Nazis, in 1941 and 1942. The Brno section of that list contains 8,197 names. It gives the birth date of each person, and then the particulars of that person’s deportation. Most of these people were first sent to Terezin, known also as Theresienstadt, which was both a ghetto and a concentration camp; from Terezin, they were then transported to various other destinations, for execution. A few died in Terezin, of course. Now, the Holocaust, as we all know, took the lives of about 6 million Jews. That number is incomprehensible to most of us. That, I think, is why Anne Frank has had such an enormous impact on Holocaust education; her story puts human faces on a small segment of the victims. I recall a stunning scene from the movie, Schindler’s List, in which the Nazis are invading the ghetto, and the Jews are scurrying about, looking for safety. The entire scene is shown in black and white, or rather, various shades of gray, but a little girl is shown in a pink coat, and we watch her against that dreary backdrop. I think her pink coat makes the scene real because it shows us a person, not just a figure. So, when the Scrolls Trust asked us to honour the memory of the people from Brno who were executed by the

Nazis, I thought it an excellent idea. Even if we will never know the true story of the origins of our Czech scroll, we have an obligation to honour the people from Bohemia and Moravia, which is the Czech region where Brno is located. So I began to do a little research of my own, and I turned first to the Encyclopedia Judaica, to see what I could learn about Brno. That was a good choice, since I have the encyclopedia in my office at home. A Google search produced exactly the same article! I found that the Jewish community there goes back to the first half of the 13th century, but that the Jews of Brno were expelled in 1454, and not allowed back in until 1848. Yet we were told that our scroll was written there in 1838. Curiouser and curiouser. It also seems that individual Jews were given permission to live in Brno over the centuries, and some did in fact run businesses, banks and even hotels there. The entry informs us that 11,000 Jews were deported between December 1941 and July 1943. And via the list we have obtained, we can account for 8,197 of those who were deported. Now, I have been a student of the Holocaust, both formally and informally, for many years. I have read many, many books and seen many movies, both documentaries and feature films, about the Holocaust. But I cannot say that I lost family in the Shoah because all my immediate family had been out of Europe for a long time before it happened. Undoubtedly, members of my extended family...cousins, aunts and uncles of my grandparents...died at the hands of the Nazis, but our family did not have a litany of names to mourn, as many of you do. So the names on this list have given me a personal connection to the Holocaust that I have never had before. My family came from Poland and Russia, and we have no connection to Czechoslovakia. So, when I checked this list for my family’s names, I was not surprised that they did not occur here. Michael Salpeter, who knows a lot more about his family’s origins, also knew of no connection to Czechoslovakia, but he was amazed to find Lily and Leo Salpeter on this list; the surname is unusual enough that he believes they were related to his family. Then I did a little more online research, and came up with a report on a series of four films made by Lukas Pribyl, to document what he calls the “forgotten transports”. Pribyl tried to find out what happened to his grandfather, and in the process, discovered that Jewish women, and some men were deported from Terezin to places like Estonia, where they were executed; of 7000 deported there, only 22 survived. He found documents that show the deportation of another 1000 Jews on September 1, 1942. Of these, just 46 women survived. Our list records at least some of that deportation. (Continued on page 15)

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Jewish Family Congregation Shofar

(Continued from page 14)

May NOT be reproduced without written permission from Rabbi Carla Freedman. In order to bring these stories to life, in his films, Pribyl featured some individuals, about whom there is some information. He mentioned a woman, Inge Syltenova, who fell in love with, of all things, a Nazi officer, who was already in love with her. They apparently escaped the camp together and died while on the run. Imagine my amazement in finding Ingeborg Syltenova’s name on the list from Brno. She undoubtedly died before her 20th birthday. Her story is recounted in one of Pribyl’s films by some of the survivors who knew her. Knowing her story and finding her name on our list reminds me, and I hope it reminds you, that these are not just letters on a page, data collected and preserved with typical Nazi efficiency. These were people, each with a story to tell. And that story would have no connection to us, were it not for the Czech Torah scroll that we have been honoured to house and use over the past nearly 30 years. So the question I raise with you today is this: how can we honour those whose names we have on a list? The Ritual Committee has decided to do a few things, and we will start this afternoon at our Yizkor, or Memorial service. We have selected some random pages, and we will read some of the names from those pages during the service. If you have not been in the habit of attending the Yizkor service, I urge you to change that today and each time we have a Yizkor service, out of respect to the Jews of the area of Brno. Derekh agav, as an aside: there is a widely held belief that one must not attend a Yizkor service if one’s parents are still alive. That is based on superstition, and derives from the fact that, in Europe, most synagogues were very small, so when it came time for the Memorial service, those who did not have to use that opportunity to remember their dead parents would leave to make room for those who needed to be there. We will certainly have room for you later today, and I encourage you to shed this old superstition and be part of the congregation when we begin our remembrance of the dead from Brno. The afternoon service begins at 4:30 pm today, and will include Yizkor. Another thing we’ll be doing is adding some names from the list to our regular Yahrzeit list, to be read just before we say Kaddish each Shabbat. If we read a dozen names each week, it will take us more than 13 years to say aloud all the names on the list. Because the list only reports the actual date of death for a tiny fraction of the people listed, we do not know when most of these people died. So reading the names each week will be an act of respect, not exactly the observance of a yahrzeit. Another thing we’ll be doing this year to honour the memory of the people on the list is to put a plaque on our Yahrzeit board in the Sanctuary, not with all the names, of

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course. It costs $450 to put up such a plaque, and we are inviting you to make a contribution toward that sum. We want the plaque to be in place for Yom HaShoah, which occurs in 2011 on May 1. We will also be giving our Religious School students the opportunity to contribute toward this memorial plaque. Anyone who wants to look at the list will have that opportunity. We have not decided when and how we will make the list available, but we plan to do so. If you want to check it for your family names, please let me know. Until we decide otherwise, the list will be in my office, and we will not let it out of the building. But you can copy from it if you want to. We are grateful to David Emmer for printing the 283 page list for us from the Internet. If our Czech scroll did in fact come from the area of Brno, it seems likely that some of the people on the list were acquainted with it, and certainly some of the men must have had an aliyah during a service when this scroll was in use. Alas, the list does not indicate whether the people on it were religious, because of course the Nazis didn’t care about that; to merit extermination, a person only had to be identifiable as Jewish by the Nazis’ own standards. Still, if we accept the original information we got about our Czech scroll, we have to assume that it was used on a regular basis from the time it was written, 1838, until the Nazis invaded the area. Since Reform Judaism did not come early to Czechoslovakia, it is safe to surmise that the congregation using our Torah scroll would have been Orthodox, though that term was not in use at the time this scroll was written. And they would have read the entire weekly Torah portion. Most Reform congregations only read a small excerpt from the portion of the week, so it is easy to see why we did not find the mistake sooner. But it is really puzzling that the folks in Brno did not discover the error while the scroll was in regular use. And there is evidence in the scroll that it has been repaired a number of times. So we know that various scribes have had their hands on this scroll over its lifetime, and still the error went unnoticed. Does any of this information help us to know more about the Jews of Brno, of whom more than 10,000 died in the Holocaust? Perhaps. If the scroll was in regular use, it may have been the only scroll possessed by a small congregation. If they had no other Torah scroll, even if they thought this one was p’sula, ritually disqualified, they may have used it anyway. Or they may have been waiting to find a scribe to correct it. Or maybe they were trying to raise the money to pay for the correction. Thinking about this community in relation to the scroll forces us to contemplate what life was like for the Jews of Brno. Looking at the list of names and the other details recorded by the Nazis, we see that many of the Jews of Brno were deported to Terezin and within a matter of days moved on to either a large ghetto in a Polish city, like Warsaw or Lublin, or to a death camp like Auschwitz or Treblinka. The final result was the same, of course. Others (Continued on page 24)

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JFC  Adults We remember "Kristallnacht," those nights of November 9 and 10, 1938 when German stormstroopers, acting on orders, smashed up Jewish shops, homes and every synagogue throughout Germany and Austria. In one night, 1,350 Jewish synagogues were burnt to the ground or destroyed; almost 100 Jews were killed; 30,000 Jews were thrown into concentration camps; 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed; and thousands of Jewish homes were ransacked. This month we celebrate not only the survival but the flourishing of our people. It is possible, easy in fact, to live effortlessly as a Jew here today. To honor those who could not and cannot do the same, make a point of attending the many social and cultural programs happening this month. Today, Berlin, Germany is a center for cultural and intellectual life and a lively scene that is drawing artists and writers, film directors, actors, and producers from all over Europe and the United States to a city that never sleeps. Berlin, in short, is a city of the 21st century. It is also the city our own Doris Hettmansberger traveled to in September. Did you know that...  Physicist Albert Einstein, director Billy Wilder, Nobel Prize laureates Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs, philosopher Martin Buber, Chabad leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and artists like Max Lieberman all lived in Berlin in the period between 1900 and 1933?  Jews have lived in Berlin since the middle ages and have had a tremendous impact on culture, science and history?

November 2010

By Jeanne Shanin, Adult Program Coordinator

 Berlin's Jewish community is one of the fastest growing communities in the world today? Doris is going to share her newest adventures, through pictures and stories, on Sunday, November 21st. Please join us for an evening of travel stories, good food and good company. But there is more. The Jewish Arts and Film Festival of Fairfield the first week of November is only 20 minutes from JFC. It will feature the best in music, literature, visual and performing arts, and award-winning films from Israel, Argentina, France, Germany and the USA. The 4th Annual Other Israel Film Festival is November 11 to 21. It showcases the diversity of Israeli life with award-winning films and open discussions about Israel’s Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Druze Arabs, who make up 20% of Israel’s population, as well as migrant workers, immigrants and others. Last, “Wallenberg: a New Musical Drama” tells the uplifting story of Raoul Wallenberg, the 32-year-old businessman from Stockholm who saved over 100,000 Jewish lives in Nazi-occupied Hungary, more than were rescued by any other individual, organization or government during the Holocaust. With an exhilarating and richly melodic score, this powerful musical reinforces the belief that any one of us has the power to make a difference. Conveying the same sense of hope and optimism that Wallenberg inspired, performances run through November 21 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. Guest speakers will follow some performances. JFC*Adults are attending the November 14th performance.

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Have you checked out our Gift Shop lately? Stop in and take a look! The items change frequently! If you are interested in purchasing anything, please let the JFC Office know.

Please Support Our Advertisers

Have you checked out the JFC Blog yet? Go to www.jfc.rjblogs.org

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November 2010

Please call the JFC Office when any relevant information arises or changes so all Birthday, Anniversary and Yahrzeit listings are accurate and up to date. JFC can only list names/dates that have been reported to us.

YAHRZEITS Morton Birnbaum Harry Firestein Jimmy Fox Sheila Gitlitz William Goldman Morton Greenwald Hirsh Grossman Arthur Klein Irene Levine Mordecai Lewittes Joseph Lobenthal Sallie Lobenthal

Joseph Victor Meister Freda Ossher Rachel Rosenhouse Ruth Rothwax Al Rubin Betty Rubin Marvin Schattner Freda Shuler Rae Shulman Tillie Simon Aaron Stillman Edgar Strauss

ANNIVERSARIES Robert & Nancy Brown John Grzymala & Linda Lederman Lowell & Nicole Haims Douglas & Susan Kaufman Gary & Donna Glassman Eric Sherr & Michele Auerbach Richard Bersch & Amy Selig Jodi & Tony Senese Paul & Beth Tessler A belated Happy Anniversary to Neal and Karen Blum. Sorry we missed it last month!

BIRTHDAYS Gail Ascher Brian Ash Liza Breslin Alison Brodoff Rebecca Brodoff Oliver Capece Cindy Carson David Ceisler Eve Chipman Reyna Cohen Evan Dodes Matthew Emmer Thomas Falconer Elaine Feldman Bruce Fischberg Amy Fischer Richard Frey Samson Robert Friedman Allen Gabor Nina Claire Gitlitz Andrew Glass Roy Goldman Steven Goodstein Edward Gordon Dylan Gottlieb Zev Grossman Jonathan Hansonbrook

Kenneth Hoffman Leonardo Junquera Aaron Kaplan Joel Kaplan Felice Kempler Emily Perl Kingsley Harrison Lavin Sigal Leitner Gary Levine Paul Malamet David Marceau Grant Melinek Renee Mendell Freddy Perlman Matthew Portnoy Angelo Revel Harry Rosenhouse Rayn Schnell Kerry Schwartz Maya Schwartz Ethan Smith Judy Vandervelden Sebastian Wallach Jodi Waxman Lindsay Waxman Trudy Wood Mira Zaslow

Please consider celebrating significant birthdays and anniversaries with a leaf on our Simcha Tree of Life. Call the JFC Office for details.

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ASK THE RABBI Question: I notice that the prayerbook we are now using has two possible endings to some lines in the G’vurot prayer: Can you explain what these are, and why there are two endings?

and they changed the text to say m’chayeih hakol…”God gives life to all”. This is intended to remind us that God is indeed the source of all life. And it leaves open the possibility of resurrection of the dead. Answer: Each time the Reform Movement publishes a prayerUntil the publication of our most recent prayerbook, the trabook, it tries to present the liturgy that is comfortable to the ditional phrase, which refers explicitly to resurrection of the people who will use it. Early in the 20th century, therefore, the dead, was not included in Reform prayers. The fact that it is prayerbook contained very little Hebrew. As time passed, more included in Mishkan T’filah indicates that at least some part of and more Hebrew entered the prayerbook, reflecting the Move- our movement is now more comfortable with this traditional ment’s increased comfort with the language. concept and language. But when the prayerbook was “test-driven” in congregations When the Movement began publishing prayerbooks, going all over the country, it was clear to the editors that there were back 200 years now, the leaders took out prayers and concepts still lots of us not willing to adopt the traditional language and that “modern” Reform Jews found distasteful or meaningless. idea in this prayer. So, they published the book with two opThey discarded prayers for rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, tions for the ending of the first and last sentences in this section for the restoration of animal sacrifice, etc. of the Amidah. The G’vurot prayer, (see page 168 of Mishkan T’filah) which This reflects two things, I think: first, that there is plenty of speaks about God’s might and power in the world, was retained, diversity within the Reform Movement on matters theological because it is a major component of the Amidah, the central and liturgical; and second, that liturgy prepared by committee prayer of every Jewish worship service. will always be subject to complexities that a single editor would That text begins with atah gibor l’olam Adonai …”You are not contend with. forever mighty, Adonai”. Then the traditional text says that But the inclusion of the traditional language, even as an op“God gives life to the dead”….m’chayeih meitim. This is a refer- tion, indicates that…to borrow a phrase…we’ve come a long ence to resurrection of the dead, which Orthodoxy accepts as a way, baby! given. However, those “modern” Reform Jews were not so sure,

ShopWithScrip! And help support JFC at no cost to you while shopping at the stores you already visit!

If you have not yet created an account with ShopWithScrip, please contact the JFC Office and we’ll get you started! It’s easy! It’s free! And there are many exciting offers!

The Tzedakah of the Month For NOVEMBER is

“MIDNIGHT RUN” Selected by the

JFC Social Action Committee

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Kids Ask the Rabbi Question:

At the end of the Friday evening service, you ask us to rise for Kiddush. What is it?

Answer: The Hebrew word, Kiddush comes from the

root meaning “holy”, and when you examine that root, you discover that it means “to set apart”, “to make or mark something as special”. The moment you are referring to in the Shabbat service is the singing of the prayer over wine, which is supposed to come before we eat a meal. And wine (or grape juice: the blessing covers both drinks) can be part of any meal….in ancient times they really had only one flavoured beverage, and the people drank it as grape juice in the morning and as wine later on in the day. Since the grape beverage (wine or juice) can be consumed at any meal, every day, the rabbis of old wanted to make sure that, on Shabbat, we pause to recognize the specialness of this day of rest. So they added a section to the prayer over the wine, which reminds us

that God gave Shabbat to the people of Israel, to remind us that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. On Friday evening, we sing both the usual blessing over the wine (…borey p’ri hagafen) and the additional section, which reminds us of the special quality of Shabbat. Taken together, these two blessings form the Kiddush, the prayer that sets Shabbat wine or grape juice apart from wine or grape juice consumed on other days. We sometimes refer to the singing of these two blessings as “making Kiddush”, which means doing the

action to mark Shabbat as special and set apart from the other days of the week.

The rabbis of the Talmud debated whether the prayer we always say over wine (…borey p’ri hagafen) should come before or after the special section for Shabbat. They decided that we should sing the section we always do before the part that is special, and so, as we taste the wine or grape juice right after we sing the prayer, the specialness of Shabbat is still in our mouths!

From the Rabbi’s Desk (cont’d) (Continued from page 15)

May NOT be reproduced without written permission from Rabbi Carla Freedman. spent months or even years at Terezin before being shipped on to their deaths. What was the difference between those who stayed a while and those who were moved on quickly? Terezin was not a death camp until the very end of the war, so it seems likely that the people who spent more than just a few days there were working under the Nazis. And Terezin was used by the Nazis to persuade the Red Cross that the camps they were running were civilized. So, when the Red Cross inspection teams arrived, they found well-fed, well-dressed prisoners teaching classes, rehearsing for musical and theatrical performances, and children in school. It is likely that some of the people from Brno were engaged in these charades to fool the Red Cross. But even so, it is clear that generally speaking, life was better for the inmates at Terezin than in most other locations under Nazi control. So those who spent a lot of time there may very well have fared better than those who were quickly moved on to other sites. But as the tide of the war turned against the Nazis, they shut down the detention camps and marched the prisoners to extermination sites. So even those who managed to survive for a while in the camps generally came to the same brutal end as the ones shipped quickly to the gas chambers. In fact, toward the end of the war, the Nazis built a gas chamber

at Terezin, so those still at that camp in 1945 were probably killed there. The challenge for us is going to be honouring the lives of these people, about whom we know little more than the dates they were shipped to places from which few emerged. We have, at this point, no information about any of them other than the woman I mentioned, Ingeborg Syltenova, who ran away with her lover, a Nazi officer. The closest we can come to them is via our Czech Torah scroll. It is, we believe, an artefact from their lives that connects them to us. Having this scroll in our congregation requires that we take on the responsibility of remembering Brno and its lost Jews. I am wondering if there is anyone besides me who would like to fulfil this obligation by visiting Brno. If this interests you, please let me know in the next week, either in person, by phone or email. Perhaps we can make a trip to Brno in this new Jewish year, to learn more about its pre-war existence, and the life of the Jews in Brno. Meanwhile, we will take up the practice of reading names from the list on a weekly basis, when we say Kaddish on Shabbat evenings, and gathering the money to put up a plaque in memory of these Jews from Brno. And this afternoon we will begin the new tradition of adding some of these names to our own Yizkor list, because it is highly unlikely that there is anyone elsewhere doing this. When I introduce Kaddish, I often refer to the two traditions we respect concerning the saying of that ancient (Continued on page 27)

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Todah rabbah to Ted Bloch, Rob Strongin and Josh Strongin

Furnished house in Goldens Bridge available for rent from November 1 to sometime in May. Rent and terms negotiable; references needed. Ideal for someone having house renovated, new to area looking for short-term lease, or looking to stay in area after selling house. Call Jeff Berg at 914-232-6806 or JeffreyFBerg@aol.com. ALL ADS ARE A FLAT $18 AND MAY NOT EXCEED 50 WORDS. THEY WILL RUN FOR ONE MONTH ONLY. To place an ad, submit the text and your payment to the JFC Office. You may email the text to jfcoffc@gmail.com and either drop off or mail your check (payable to JFC). Credit card payments are also accepted.

for their help with the JFC semiannual Roadside Cleanup on Sunday, October 17! Thanks to the efforts of these folks and many others over the years who have helped out, "our" stretch of Route 35 (2 miles: from the Cross River Shopping Center to the Bouton Mobile Station) has remained relatively litter-free. . . a vast difference from when we started this effort 10 or so years ago. Thank you!

BLOOD DRIVE We will again be holding our annual Blood Drive on

Veteransâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Day, November 11. PLEASE plan to donate blood. Call Debbie (232-0756) or Jeanette (763-0311) if you want to volunteer to help organize the drive or otherwise help out. This is a significant community service that can save lives.

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Rabbi Carla Celebrates 13 Years at JFC October 15, 2010 Hi! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Claire Chess Lichtman. I have been part of the JFC family for 3 1/2 years. I would like to say a few words about my friend Rabbi Carla in honor of her 13th year of service at JFC. I have prepared this in an acrostic style. (Rabbi Carla, please do not say “zhoog” in the middle of this…)

R A B B I

Rabbi is obvious, but did you know that Rabbi Carla and Jeanne have a RABBIT? His name is Moe, and he’s real cute. Rabbi Carla is an AWESOME friend to have. BRIANNA. Rabbi Carla has two grand-children, Brianna and Jesse. I can tell how much she loves and cares about them by how much she talks about them! If you haven’t already noticed, Rabbi Carla is the BOSS.

I’m taking a little poetic license here. Technically, Eisner, the URJ Camp I go to with some other JFC family members, starts with “E.” But how could I not take this opportunity to tell Rabbi Carla how much I love when she and Jeanne come up to Eisner to visit? I really love the connection to home and especially love the hugs I get! Thanks Rabbi Carla!

C A R L A

Lots of “C” words come to mind when I think of Rabbi Carla. For instance: caring, calm, cheerful and charming. And have you checked out her COOL CAR? Rabbi Carla is an AMAZING person. I have learned a lot from her, like how to tie gourds to hang in a sukkah — an important life skill! Rabbi Carla is a REAL down-to-earth person, and I appreciate that she is who she is. Rabbi Carla makes me LAUGH. I laugh a lot with Rabbi Carla. Her smiles, jokes and long-winded tongue-twisters always crack me up! Rabbi Carla is ALWAYS there for me, and I really love her!

Happy 13th Rabbi Carla! I LOVE YOU!

Claire Chess Lichtman

Rabbi Carla would enjoy sharing this bench with all of you! Please feel free to sit in it any time you’re here!

Claire and Rabbi Carla Camp Eisner Visiting Day August 2010

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Donations to JFC Last Month BRNO Fund Peter & Liza Breslin

In Honor of Rabbi Carla’s great contribution to Jacob’s Eagle Scout Ceremony

Ethan David & Michael Salpeter General Fund Rabbi Harvey Tattelbaum Allen Gabor & Lisa Papernik Allen Gabor & Lisa Papernik Chuck Cohen

In gratitude of the courtesy given at the High Holy Days In Honor of Ruth Ossher on the occasion of Abigail’s Bat Mitzvah In Honor of Polly Schnell on the occasion of Abigail’s Bat Mitzvah In Honor of Rabbi Carla’s 13th year anniversary with JFC

Grounds Beautification Allen Gabor & Lisa Papernik

In Honor of Jolie Levy on the occasion of Abigail’s Bat Mitzvah

JFC-URJ Camp Fund The Emmer Family Jerald & Gayle Seti

In Honor of Jacob Breslin’s becoming an Eagle Scout In Honor of Jacob Breslin’s becoming an Eagle Scout

Music & Choir Fund Allen Gabor & Lisa Papernik

In Honor of Cantor Kerry on the occasion of Abigail’s Bat Mitzvah

Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund Alvin & Stella Kaplan Milton & Pearl Feldman In Memory of Diana Bell Irene Auerbacher In Honor of Rabbi Freedman’s 13 years Simcha Leaf Josephine & Silviu Landman In Honor of the 10th Wedding Anniversary of Rita & Michael Gitlitz David & Phyllis Amerling The Steinberg Family Victor Stein Edith Carson The Moss Family

High Holy Day Donations Herb & Shirley Brown Maxine & Seymour Kaplan Marcia & Fred Zuckerberg Jo & Roger Drawec Elayne Rosen Terri Levin Davgin & Richard Linda & Alan Getz Davgin Roy L. Goldman

IF ANY DONATIONS MADE LAST MONTH ARE NOT LISTED, KINDLY CONTACT THE JFC OFFICE AND LET US KNOW.

From the Rabbi’s Desk (cont’d) our membership is young too. But in accepting Czech Torah scroll 1242 30 years ago, we, perhaps unwittingly, connected our community to one much older than ours. We have acquired a history that takes us back to the 13th cen(Continued from page 24) prayer. In the Reform movement, after World War II, tury in Czechoslovakia, and also to the terrifying events of when the extent of the tragedy of European Jewry was 1941 and 1942, when the Jews of Brno were taken from becoming clear, many people took it upon themselves to their homes and sent upon a journey to death. rise for Kaddish to honour the memory of those who died We are their family now, and in their memory, we are during the Holocaust. Here, we will continue to respect going to honour our Czech scroll and through it, we are this practice as well as the traditional one of rising only to going to honour them, the executed Jews of Brno. say Kaddish for members of your own family. I ask today for your support in doing this, and encourBut in adding the names from Brno to our lists, I think age you to think of other ways to fulfil our obligation to we are living up to what we sometimes refer to as “our the 8,197 people whose names we have on this list. middle name”...family. Because their Torah scroll resides And I ask you, particularly today, to attend our Yizkor with us, we are taking the lost Jews of Brno into our fam- service this afternoon, and hear some of the names of ily, and we will be remembering them whenever we say people who have become part of the Jewish Family ConKaddish. gregation. Ours is a young congregation...just 30 years old. And That’s what family is for. May NOT be reproduced without written permission from Rabbi Carla Freedman.

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November 2010 Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

ECC Gr. 7

ECC

K-3/CC/SMP YG

ECC

Gr. 7 9-9:45

UJA/RS Gift of Chanukah Toy Drive begins

Bat Mitzvah Of Kerry Schwartz

Creation Station

Bd Mtg

Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

Gr. 4-6

ECC

VETERANS’ DAY ECC Ladies’ Bazaar OFFICE CLOSED 7-10 pm JFC RS Talent Show BLOOD entry forms due DRIVE Creation 2:30-8 pm Station

ECC

Gr. 7 9-9:45

Gr. 7

14 Gr. 4-6 URJ Camps Presentation 12:00

Gr. 6 Service

Bat Mitzvah Of Sierra Shafer

Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

ECC

K-3/CC/SMP

ECC

Gr. 7 9-10:45

Gr. 7

RS Comm Mtg 12:15

[K/L Early Dismissal]

Gr. 4-6

ECC

NO ECC

RS Talent Gr. 7 Show Meeting/Rehearsal 12-1:00

10-PK 6-7:30

Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

NO RS

ECC Gr. 7

ECC

27 NO Gr. 7

THANKSGIVING THANKSGIVING WEEKEND OFFICE CLOSED OFFICE CLOSED

Fabulous Fall Festival 6:00-11:00

Service 7:30 Tot Shabbat

Creation

YG Rock Shabbat 6:30-7:00

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

JEWISH FAMILY CONGREGATION

Jewish Family Congregation 111 Smith Ridge Rd/Rte. 123 P.O. Box 249 South Salem, NY 10590

CURRENT RESIDENT OR

Non Profit Organization Postage PAID White Plains, NY Permit No. 9022