L’Shana Tova 5774
Supplement to Jewish News August 19, 2013
Dear Readers,
Published 22 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.
T
hat line about the High Holidays never being on time (you know, they are either early or late!), seems particularly appropriate this year. How can it be that Selichot takes place this month and Rosh Hashanah is in the same week as Labor Day?
Think about the rabbis and cantors and choirs and temple administrators around the globe who wonder where their summer went! Early or not, our special New Year’s section covers a lot of ground—some pieces are serious, some fun. For example, we’ve got one article about learning from children how to relax and be spiritual and another about the bees that make honey to make our New Year sweet. This wouldn’t be a New Year’s section without our annual month-by-month look at what’s happened this year in the Jewish world. From women being arrested at the Western Wall to Israeli and U.S. elections to Jewish leaders lost, this piece chronicles the activities of 5773. Shalom Tidewater has compiled a detailed listing of area High Holiday services and events. Clearly, there are plenty of places in Tidewater to worship! We’ve included phone numbers and times and easy ways to direct you to Shalom Tidewater’s blog for even more information. Virginia Beach native Raven Rutherford just returned from a year in Israel. She shares her Israeli Rosh Hashanah experience. Be prepared—it is definitely not your typical Southern Jewish service. Scattered throughout the section we’ve asked several people to recall one of their favorite or strongest New Year’s memories. Their responses are fun, from the heart and in some instances, surprising.
Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 200 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462-4370 voice 757.965.6100 • fax 757.965.6102 email news@ujft.org www.jewishVA.org Terri Denison, Editor Germaine Clair, Art Director Laine Mednick Rutherford, Associate Editor Hal Sacks, Book Review Editor Sandy Goldberg, Account Executive Sharon Freeman, Account Executive Mark Hecht, Account Executive Marilyn Cerase, Subscription Manager Reba Karp, Editor Emeritus Miles Leon, President Stephanie Calliott, Secretary Harry Graber, Executive Vice-President
As you soak up these last days of summer and make that turn to the holidays, we want to wish you a happy, healthy and The appearance of advertising in the Jewish News does not constitute a kashrut, political, product or service endorsement. The articles and letters appearing herein are not necessarily the opinion of this newspaper.
peaceful New Year! L’Shana Tova! The Jewish News staff
© 2013 Jewish News. All rights reserved.
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coming soon This special magazine-style publication will highlight the past 25 years of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, take a look
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of Tidewater’s organized Jewish community
Commemorative Issue
Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year
even further back to the beginning, and peek into the future.
Upcoming Special Sections Issue
Date
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Sept. 30
Deadline Sept. 13
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Oct 28
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Cover art by Germaine Clair
Year in Review
5773
by JTA Staff
NEW YORK (JTA)—From wars and elections to scandals and triumphs, JTA takes a look back at the highlights of the Jewish year 5773.
September 2012
•
Islamists throw a homemade grenade into a Jewish supermarket near Paris, injuring one. The incident is part of a major increase in attacks on Jews in France in 2012.
October 2012
• William Herskowitz, a member of an
internship program in Israel for American Jews, shoots dead a hotel employee in the Israeli resort city of Eilat and then kills himself following a standoff with police.
• Arlen Specter, the longtime mod-
erate Jewish Republican senator from Pennsylvania whose surprise late-life party switch back to the Democrats helped pass President Obama’s health care reforms, dies at 82 following a long struggle with cancer. During his time in the Senate, Specter offered himself as a broker for Syria‑Israel peace talks and led efforts to condition aid to the Palestinian Authority on its peace process performance.
•
Jewish groups pull out of a national interfaith meeting meant to bolster
relations between Jews and Christians following a letter by Protestant leaders to Congress calling for an investigation into U.S. aid to Israel.
• Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley, American economists with ties to Israeli universities, win the Nobel Prize for economics.
• The Israeli Knesset votes to dissolve,
sending Israel to new elections for the first time since 2009.
• Women of the Wall leader Anat
Hoffman is arrested at the Western Wall and ordered to stay away from the site for 30 days after attempting to lead a women’s prayer group at the holy site in violation of Kotel rules. The incident, which is witnessed by dozens of American participants in town for the centennial celebration of the women’s Zionist group Hadassah, stokes outrage among liberal American Jewish groups.
• Israel, a heated issue throughout the
U.S. presidential campaign, is mentioned 31 times by President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney at the final presidential debate, which was devoted to foreign policy and held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Both candidates sought to score points on the issue, but actual policy differences seemed to be in short supply.
• With a charter flight of some 240
Ethiopian immigrants, the Israeli government launches what it says is the final stage of mass immigration from Ethiopia to Israel. The following summer, the Jewish Agency announces that the last Ethiopian aliyah flight will take place in August 2013.
November 2012
• Moscow’s Jewish Museum and
Tolerance Center opens to great fanfare.
• Hurricane Sandy hits the U.S. East
Coast, killing more than 100 and causing an estimated $50 billion in damages. The populous Jewish areas of New York and New Jersey see extreme damage, and a Jewish man and woman are killed by a falling tree in Brooklyn. Synagogues and Jewish organizations nationwide join efforts to raise money to help victims of the superstorm.
•
President Obama is reelected, with exit polls giving the incumbent about 68 percent of the Jewish vote—down from the estimated 74 percent to 78 percent in 2008. Many of the campaign battles between Jewish surrogates were fought over Middle East issues, but surveys suggested that like most other voters, American Jews were most concerned with economic issues.
• Major League Baseball player Delmon
Young pleads guilty to misdemeanor charges related to an incident in New York in which the Detroit Tigers’ designated hitter yells anti‑Semitic slurs at a group of tourists talking to a homeless panhandler wearing a yarmulke. Young is sentenced jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 35
Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year 530 Raleigh Avenue • Norfolk, Va. 23507 • 625-4295 www.ohefsholom.org
in Manhattan Criminal Court to 10 days of community service and ordered to participate in a mandatory restorative justice program run by the Museum of Tolerance in New York.
5774
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful year.
36 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
der fire on the Golan Heights, including errant Syrian and rebel shells landing in Israel, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Syrian government is violating a 1974 disengagement agreemen with Israel by deploying military equipment and troops over the cease-fire line.
•
• After days of stepped-up rocket attacks
from Gaza, Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense with a missile strike that kills the head of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, Ahmed Jabar. In all, six Israelis and an estimated 149 to 177 Palestinians are killed during the weeklong exchange of fire. Egypt helps broker the cease-fire between the two sides.
shechitah, Jewish ritual slaughter, along with Muslim ritual slaughter. An effort in July to overturn the ban fails.
•
The decision by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to grant himself near absolute powers dismays U.S. and Israeli observers just days after Morsi is lauded for helping broker a Hamas-Israel ceasefire. Morsi backtracks in December, but the move helps stoke popular discontent in Egypt with the country’s first democratically elected president.
•
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• After months of occasional cross-bor-
Ahmed Ferhani, 27, an Algerian immigrant living in New York, pleads guilty to planning to blow up synagogues in New York City.
• A constitutional court in Poland bans
Happy Holidays
December 2012
The U.N. General Assembly votes 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions, to recognize Palestine as a state. Passage of the resolution, which does not have the force of law, prompts condemnations from the United States and warnings of possible penalties, but none are invoked. Israel responds with its own dire warnings and announces new settlement constriction in the West Bank. Over the course of months, the change in status in the United Nations proves largely irrelevant.
• In a case that ignites passions in the
haredi Orthodox community in Brooklyn, Satmar hasid Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed therapist, is found guilty on 59 counts of sexual abuse. Days later, a hasidic assailant throws bleach in the face of a community rabbi, Nuchem Rosenberg, who advocates for victims of sex abuse. In January, Weberman is sentenced to 103 years in prison.
• German lawmakers pass a bill enshrining the right to ritual circumcision but regulating how circumcisions are to be conducted. The law displaces a ban on Jewish ritual circumcision imposed by a court in Cologne in June.
• Yeshiva University President Richard
Joel apologizes for alleged instances of sexual misconduct and harassment by two former faculty members—Rabbis George Finkelstein and Macy Gordon—at the university’s high school more than two decades earlier.
• Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the leader of
one of London’s largest congregations and a former chief rabbi of Ireland, is named Britain’s chief rabbi-designate. This fall he is to succeed Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who has served in the post since 1991.
• Numerous Jewish groups call for stricter gun control regulations after a gunman kills 20 first‑graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn. The youngest victim is a 6-year-old Jewish boy, Noah Pozner.
•
Benjamin Netanyahu wins reelection as Israel’s prime minister, but his LikudYisrael Beiteinu faction suffers significant losses at the polls, falling to 31 seats. The big winners are two newcomer parties: Yair Lapid’s centrist, domestic-focused Yesh Atid, which comes in second with 19 Knesset seats, and Naftali Bennett’s nationalist Jewish Home, which wins 12 seats. Both later opt to join Netanyahu’s coalition government, which takes nearly two months to assemble.
INVEST IN ISRAEL
• New York businessman Jacob Ostreicher, • Iran and Argentina sign an agreement
who has been jailed in Bolivia without charges for 18 months, is released on bail but still barred from leaving the country. A haredi Orthodox father of five and grandfather of 11 from Brooklyn, Ostreicher was arrested in June 2011 by Bolivian police over allegations that he did business with drug traffickers and money launderers.
• A Paris court orders Twitter to monitor
and disclose the identities of users from France who posted anti-Semitic comments online, including Holocaust denials. Twitter later appeals the decision but loses, and the U.S.-based company complies with the demand in July.
January 2013
•
Video emerges from 2010 of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi—then a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood—calling Jews “bloodsuckers” and “descendants of apes and pigs.” Morsi tells U.S. senators that he gets bad press because “certain forces” control the media.
to form an independent commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and was blamed on Iran. Argentinian and American Jews denounce the agreement as a farce. Iran’s parliament has yet to sign off on the pact.
• Amid concerns that Syrian President
Bashar Assad may be transferring chemical weapons to Hezbollah, Israeli planes bomb a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border. It is one of several Israeli strikes in Syrian territory during the year.
2013 · 5774 HIGH HOLIDAYS
INVEST IN ISRAEL BONDS ISRAELBONDS.COM
February 2013
•
Ed Koch, the pugnacious former New York City mayor whose political imprimatur was eagerly sought by Republicans and Democrats, dies at 88 of congestive heart failure. At his funeral, a cast of political luminaries remembers him as a friend of Israel and the Jewish people.
•
President Obama nominates Jacob Lew, his chief of staff and an Orthodox Jew who frequently serves as an intermediary with Jewish groups, to be secretary of the Treasury Department.
• Bulgaria affirms that Hezbollah was
behind the attack in Burgas in July 2012 that killed six people, including five Israelis. The finding adds to pressure on the European Union to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. After concerns are expressed in the ensuing
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L’Shana Tova Wishing you and yours a very Sweet and Healthy New Year! Linda Fox-Jarvis and Team Re/Max Ambassadors www.foxjarvis.com www.foxhomelink.com 757-490-1254 Lfoxjarvis@mindspring.com
months that Bulgarian officials are backing away from their assertions, Bulgaria’s foreign minister reassures Israel on the attack’s one-year anniversary that Bulgaria still holds Hezbollah responsible.
• The Australian Broadcasting Corp. iden-
• Following prodding by President
Muslims of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in the country, including on Jewish targets.
Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to resume normal ties after Israel apologizes for the deaths of nine Turks in 2010 during a clash with Israeli commandos aboard the Mavi Marmara, a ship attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Erdogan later balks, saying normalization will not take place until Israel fulfills its obligations under the agreement.
March 2013
• Berlin’s Jewish Museum provokes con-
tifies a man known as “Prisoner X, who hanged himself in a maximum-security Israeli prison in 2010, as Australian-Israeli citizen Ben Zygier. Zygier is said to have worked for the Mossad.
• A British court convicts three British
•
Vice President Joe Biden tells thousands of AIPAC activists meeting in Washington that President Obama is “not bluffing” when he says he will stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
•
The U.S. State Department cancels plans to honor Egyptian human rights activist Samira Ibrahim after opponents note that anti‑Jewish tweets were posted on her Twitter account.
May your new year be filled with health, peace and joy. L'Shanah Tovah!
expansion of terrorist activities into Europe and fuels calls for European Union countries to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
troversy with its “Jew in a Box” exhibit (formally titled “The Whole Truth”), in which Jews spend a shift sitting in a glass box and answering questions from visitors.
•
Mike Engelman, the owner of Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats in Los Angeles, is videotaped directing his employees to unload boxes of meat from his car while the store’s kosher supervisor is absent. The footage leads the Rabbinical Council of California to revoke the shop’s kosher certification the day before Passover, leaving many kosher consumers in the lurch.
April 2013
Beth El is looking
• French Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim
forward to celebrating creation,
resigns following revelations that he plagiarized the work of others in his books and claimed unearned academic titles.
community and connection with God.
•
If you need a place for services, we invite you to be our guests for the holidays. Contact Pam Gladstone, Executive Director, for details.
422 Shirley Avenue • Norfolk, VA 23517 757-625-7821 • www.bethelnorfolk.com 38 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
~
• President Obama makes his first visit
to Israel since taking office in 2008. In a speech upon arrival at the airport, Obama says the United States is Israel’s “strongest ally and greatest friend.” His trip receives widespread praise from Jewish groups.
•
A Lebanese-Swedish citizen is convicted in Cyprus on charges of spying on Israeli tourists for Hezbollah. The closely watched trial is a sign of Hezbollah’s
After being asked by Israel’s prime minister to come up with a solution to the Women of the Wall controversy, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky proposes that the Robinson’s Arch area of the Western Wall be expanded and renovated to allow for egalitarian prayer there at any time. Reaction to his proposal is mixed.
• Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian
Authority prime minister who was lauded for his technocratic approach toward state building in the West Bank, resigns. He is replaced in June by university president
• Eric Garcetti, a veteran L.A. city council-
man, becomes the first elected Jewish mayor of Los Angeles. With his victory, America’s three largest cities boast Jewish mayors.
Metzger, is arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.
•
• In a letter announcing his retirement,
Rami Hamdallah, who announces after two weeks on the job that he is quitting.
The Claims Conference is embroiled in controversy after the public learns that officials at the organization failed to adequately follow up on allegations of fraud in 2001, missing an early chance to stop what turned into a $57 million scheme. The disclosure comes during the trial of the scheme’s mastermind, Semen Domnitser, who is found guilty. In July, the Claims Conference board agrees to some outside input in formulating plans for its future but votes to reelect its embattled chairman, Julius Berman, who oversaw a botched probe in 2001 into the allegations.
•
• A 13‑year‑old Indian‑American
Rabbi Michael Broyde, a prominent legal scholar in the Modern Orthodox community and professor at Emory University, is forced to step down from a leading religious court after admitting that he systematically used a fake identity in scholarly journals. The admission followed a report by The Jewish Channel exposing the ruse.
•
Bret Stephens, a former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post and now deputy editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, wins the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
•
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews opens in Warsaw.
•
The Jewish Museum of Casablanca reopens following a major renovation funded by the Moroccan government. The renovation is part of a broad effort led by Morocco’s king to restore Jewish heritage sites in the country, including an ancient synagogue in Fez and dozens of former Jewish schools.
• Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona
boy, Arvind Mahankali, spells the Yiddish‑derived word “knaidel” correctly to win the 2013 Scripps National Spellig Bee.
July 2013
Yeshiva University Chancellor Norman Lamm issues an apology for mishandling sex abuse allegations decades earlier against faculty members at Y.U.’s high school for boys. Days later, several ex-Y.U. students file a $380 million lawsuit against the university.
•
Three campers at the Goldman Union Camp Institute near Indianapolis are injured in a lightning strike. A few days later, a Jewish camp counselor is killed by a falling tree at Camp Tawonga, a California camp located near Yosemite National Park.
•
Egypt’s army deposes President Mohamed Morsi, overthrowing the
country’s first democratically elected leader. The Obama administration stops short of calling the action a coup, avoiding an automatic cutoff in U.S. aid to Egypt. Morsi had become deeply unpopular among liberal and secular Egyptians but retained deep-rooted support among members of his Muslim Brotherhood.
• Israel’s ambassador to the United
States, Michael Oren, announces he will return to Israel after four years in the position. He is to be replaced by Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both ambassadors are American born.
• Portugal enacts a law of return to make
citizenship available to Jewish descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews. The move is intended to address the mass expulsion of Jews from Portugal in the 16th century.
June 2013
•
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg dies at age 89 after a long and accomplished career advocating for Jewish issues.
•
The Canadian Jewish News decides to abort a plan announced in April to stop printing the newspaper.
•
Yeshivat Maharat, a women’s seminary started by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 2009, graduates its first class of Orthodox women clergy known as maharats.
• Liberal Jewish groups hail the Supreme
Court decision striking down California’s ban on gay marriage, while Orthodox groups express muted disappointment.
Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year
May 2013
•
Following complaints from pro‑Israel groups, the Newseum in Washington cancels a planned honor for two slain Palestinian cameramen employed by a Hamas affiliate.
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High Holidays 5774/2013 in Tidewater Check the Shalom Tidewater “How to Celebrate the High Holidays 5774/2013 in Tidewater” Blog on JewishVa.org for more information regarding the following High Holiday services and events Beth Chaverim 757-463-3226 Selichot* Saturday, August 31, 8 pm Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4, 8 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5, 10:30 am Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13, 8 pm Yom Kippur Day Services Saturday, Sept. 14, 10:30 am Tickets are available to all. Contact the Beth Chaverim office to purchase. Commodore Levy Chapel on Naval Station Norfolk* 757-444-7361 Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4, 7 pm Worship Services Light refreshments after the service. Congregants wishing to contribute refreshments, please bring either dairy or pareve items. Discussion of morning service will occur with voluntary participation welcome. Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5, 9 am Worship Services, including a Torah Service. Volunteers for readings, procession and recession are needed. Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, Sep. 6, 8 am The Levy Chapel Congregation will join with Temple Israel of Norfolk for Second Day morning services. Cantor Sachnoff will participate in the service at Temple Israel Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13, 7 pm Worship Services Yom Kippur Day Services Saturday, Sept. 14, 9 am Worship Services, including a Torah Service before the Mid-Day break.
All congregants wishing to have the names of their family read during Yizkor should submit the names to Cantor Sachnoff before the end of the morning service. Yizkor 3:30 pm Havdallah Service sunset Annual Break The Fast Pot Luck will begin after Havdallah. See Mrs. Sachnoff for suggestions on what to bring, if planning to attend the Break-the-Fast. All items should be either dairy or pareve. For information about worship services and access to the Chapel, contact the Chaplains Office at 757-444-7361, Mon.–Fri. 8 am–3:30 pm. Congregation Beth El 757-625-7821 Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4 Congregational Service 5:45 pm Family Service 5:45 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5 Shacharit 8:15 am Babysitting 9:30 am Children’s services (K-7) 10:30 am Tashlikh (at the Hague) with B’nai Israel. A “rain-or-shine” experience.* 5:45 pm Mincha-Maariv (at Beth El) 7:30 pm Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, September 6 Shacharit 8:15am Babysitting 10:30am Children’s services (K-7) 10:30am Mincha-maariv 7:30pm Annual Cemetery Service at Forest Lawn Cemetery* Sunday, Sept. 8, 12:30 pm It is customary to visit the graves of family members who have passed on during the High Holy Day period. Rabbis Arnowitz and Kras along with Cantor Piltch will lead a special service.
40 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
Kavanah to Kaparah* Monday, Sept. 9, 7 pm at Temple Emanuel Beth El will join with Temple Emanuel for a spiritually moving preparation for Yom Kippur. “Kavanah to Kaparah” allows the healing of wounds from hurts suffered over the past year. Program at the temple before walking to the Oceanfront. Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13, 7 pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Shacharit 9 am Babysitting 10 am Yizkor 12:45pm Study session 4 pm Mincha 5:30pm Neilah 6:15pm Maariv 7:45pm Blowing of Shofar and Havdalah 7:55pm Gomley Chesed 757-484-1019 Selichot* Saturday, August 31, 9 pm Hosted at Kempsville Conservative Synagogue in Virginia Beach Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4, 6 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5 Morning Service 10 am (lunch by reservation) Evening Service 6 pm (dinner by reservation) Lunch and dinner are $15 each per person. Contact the synagogue for reservations. Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, Sept. 6 Morning Service 10 am Evening Service 6 pm Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13, 6 pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Morning Services 9 am Yizkor 11:45 am
(break at 2 pm) Services resume 6 pm Kempsville Conservative Synagogue—Kehillat Bet Hamidrash (KBH) 757-495-8510 Selichot* Saturday, August 31 “The Committed Conservative Jew in Today’s U.S. Military” Current and recently retired servicemen and family members will discuss their experiences serving in the U.S. military, while observing Jewish religious practices. Free and open to the public. Arrivals and greetings 9:15 pm Panel discussion begins followed by light refreshments 9 pm Selichot Services 11 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sep. 5 Morning Services 9:30 am Tashlich 7 pm Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, Sept. 6 Morning Services 9:30 am Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13 Evening Services 6:50 pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Morning Services 9:30 am Yizkor 12 pm Mincha and Neilah 6 pm High Holiday tickets may be purchased by non-members of KBH by making a donation. The basic charge is $120 for all three days of services, but the congregation accepts any amount offered. For information or to obtain tickets, visit www. kbhsynagogue.org, e-mail kbhsynagogue@ gmail.com or call 757-420-5891.
Ohef Sholom Temple 757-625-4295
Temple Emanuel 757-428-2591
Cemetery Service at Forest Lawn Cemetery Mausoleum* Sunday, August 25, 1 pm
Selichot (Community Observance)* Saturday, Aug. 31, 9:15pm Hosted at Kempsville Conservative Synagogue in Virginia Beach.
Selichot* Saturday, August 31 Study Session with Rabbi Steinberg, “Taking the Inward Journey” 6:30 pm Dessert Reception, 7:30 pm Selichot Service 8 pm Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4 Children’s Services (k-4th grade) 6:15 pm Evening Services 6:15 pm and 8:15 pm
Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4, 6 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5 Shacharit 9 am Babysitting drop-off begins**9:30am Junior Congregation** (approx.) 11 am Tashlich 5 pm Mincha 6 pm Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, Sept. 6 Shacharit 9 am Babysitting drop-off begins** 9:30 am Junior Congregation** (approx.) 11 am Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv 6 pm
Rosh Hashanah Thursday, Sept. 5 Children’s Services (k-4th grade) 9 am Morning Services 9 am and 11:30 am Tashlich 4:30 pm
Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13 Babysitting drop-off begins** 6:15pm Services begin promptly 6:30 pm
Kol Nidre Friday, Sept.13 Children’s Services (k-4th grade) 6:15 pm Evening Services 6:15pm and 8:15pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Children’s Services (k-4th grade) 9 am Morning Services 9 am and 11:30 am Afternoon study session with Rabbi Steinberg* 1:30 pm Afternoon Services* 2:45 pm Interlude featuring Barbara Chapman, harpist* 4 pm Memorial and Concluding Service* 4:15 pm Break-the-fast immediately following concluding service (Reservations required. Prices until August 31 are $18 per adult and $10 per child 13 and under. After Aug. 31 prices are $25 per adult and $15 per child) Tickets for non-affiliated guests are available at $100 for adults and $36 for 9–16 per ticket, paid in advance. Contact Sara at 625‑4295 or sara@ohefsholom.org for more tickets or information.
Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Morning Service 9 am Babysitting drop-off begins** 10 am Junior Congregation* (approx.) 11 am Yizkor Service following Torah Services (approx.) 11:30 am Mincha and Neilah 5:15 pm Shofar Blowing Community Break the Fast 7:45 pm **Junior Congregation for ages 9 and up is scheduled during Torah Service in the sanctuary. Babysitting is available for younger children. RSVP to Beth Gross at the Temple office 428-2591. Tickets for High Holiday services may be purchased for out of town guests and/ or out of town family members for $100 per ticket by contacting the Temple office 757-428-2591. Temple Israel 757-489-4550 Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4 Minchah-Maariv 6:30pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5 Morning Service 8 am Torah Study with Kathryn Morton 9:30–10:3 0am Children’s Arts and Crafts 9:30 am–10:30 am
Rebecca Bickford is the Community Concierge for the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. She maintains the Shalom Tidewater program, which provides outreach to Tidewater Jewish community members who are new or interested in becoming more involved.
Newish and Jewish? Do you know of a new community member? Someone who recently moved to the area and wants to get involved? Tell them about Shalom Tidewater and the free services that are available. Rebecca Bickford, Community Concierge (757) 452-3180; rbickford@ujft.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShalomTidewater Twitter: www.twitter.com/ShalomTidewater
Children’s Services 10:30 am Tashlikh Outing 6 pm, home of Nancy Tucker, 255 N. Blake Road Minchah-Maariv 7 pm Rosh Hashanah Second Day Friday, Sept. 6 Morning Service 8 am Children’s Arts and Crafts 9:30 am-10:30 am Children’s Services 10:30 am Minchah-Maariv 7 pm Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13 Minchah and Kol Nidre- 6:45 pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Morning Services 8 am (YIZKOR) Torah Study with Kathryn Morton 9:30–10:30 am Children’s Arts and Crafts 9:30am– 10:30 am Children’s Services 10:30 am Minchah 5:15 pm Ne’ilah 6:30pm Sounding of t he Shofar 7:45 pm Break the Fast to Follow
Tidewater Chavurah* 757-497-8980 or 757-468-2675 Annually celebrates the Jewish High Holy Days with Services at The Simon Family Jewish Community Center in Virginia Beach. Erev Rosh Hashanah Wednesday, Sept. 4, 7 pm Rosh Hashanah First Day Thursday, Sept. 5, 10 am Tashlich Service Location, date and time TBD Kol Nidre Friday, Sept. 13 Cello prelude of Kol Nidre will be played by Jeff Phelps 6:50 pm Evening services, 7 pm Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 14 Morning and Yizkor Services, 10 am Afternoon and Concluding Services at the home of Linda and Glenn Hoffman. A Break-The-Fast Meal, sponsored by the Tidewater Chavurah, will be served following the service. 4:30 pm
*Tickets are not required for these services. For all others, contact the synagogues for membership information and ticket policies and costs.
jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 41
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F r i e n d s , f a m i ly a n d H i g h H o l i d ay s e r m o n s m a k e th e N e w Y e a r memorable I always look forward to Rosh Hashanah— going to temple, listening to the rabbi’s sermon, and, of course, hearing the shofar. What is most memorable to me about the holiday, the one thing that our family always does that is so, so special, is going to Art and Annie Sandler’s house after services to be together for lunch. Art and Annie are our
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them since Ronnie and I got married—for the past 21 years! Other close friends come, too, and when Art’s parents, Reba and Sam, and Ronnie’s parents, Mickey and Saralee, were alive, they came too. Everyone, adults and kids, sit down together and share a wonderful lunch with apples and honey. One of the special and really memorable things we do every year is talk
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about the rabbi’s sermon. Art starts the discussion—never in a negative way, he always makes it fun—and everybody gets to share their take on what was said and have input in the conversation. Art knows how to draw people into the discussion and can make people really think. We’ll start with
Wishing you a happy and healthy new year
the sermon and then the topics usually broaden. It’s been great for our kids—they’ve learned from Art and these special Rosh Hashanah lunches how to get other people engaged in the conversation. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, we follow up that tradition of going to the Sandlers by going to Jon and Jennifer Crawford’s house for lunch. Our friends, Norman and Farideh Goldin are there, and all of our children—
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42 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
again, who have grown up together. We continue the conversation about the sermon on the second day, too. Sharing these meals with our close friends and family and watching our kids grow up together, are my favorite memories of Rosh Hashanah. To me, it’s the best way to start off the New Year.
H O L I D AY M E M O R I E S Amy Weinstein
The Scent of Rosh Hashanah Growing up, my parents were very involved with the temple, so of course, we all had
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to look nice. There were three of us kids, so getting dressed to go to synagogue and getting there on time took planning— we had our outfits, we had a shower schedule (who was showering when, so that everyone had hot water)—and there was also my grandmother who was at our house, too—another person to get ready,
Amy Weinstein
and my mom, who was notoriously late. It could be an ordeal.
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But here’s where my memory comes in, and it’s a very positive memory. When we were finally all ready to go to services, I remember my mom coming down the stairs and getting into the car, and I remember, every year, smelling her very fancy perfume. She wore Calvin Klein’s Eternity for Women and when I smelled it, I knew we were ready to go. For me as a kid, and as a teenager, if I wanted to smell fancy, I’d put on Mom’s “High
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Holiday” perfume. As an adult, I bought myself a bottle of Eternity and I wear it—a lot more frequently than my mom ever did. Every time I put it on, I feel fancy, I feel like I’m ready to go, and I always think, “Mmmm. It smells like High Holidays.”
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jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 43
Manischewitz Recipe & Holiday Guide free app now in beta for Apple® and Android™
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ust in time for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, The Manischewitz® Company’s beta version of its free kosher recipe app, The Manischewitz Recipe & Holiday Guide, is now available for download on all Apple® and Android™ devices. Notable chefs, cookbook authors, and everyday home cooks submitted recipes for the app, which includes many “eating holidays” such as Passover, Chanukah, Thanksgiving, Shabbat, July 4th, and Shavuot. Other categories of recipes include gluten-free, everyday meals, lunches, side dishes, and desserts. In addition to recipes supplied by home cooks and well-known chefs, recipes from finalists and winners
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44 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
To download the app to any Apple or Android device, search for “Manischewitz” in the App Store for Apple® devices, and the Google Play Store for Android™ devices, or visit the respective stores at these links: Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ manischewitz-recipe-holiday/id663920818?mt=8 Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manischewitz.manischewitz&hl=en
H O L I D AY M E M O R I E S Ben Simon
G ath e r i n g at D o u m a r ’ s t o C e l e b r at e Rosh Hashanah For 25 or 30 years, my family had a tradition that kept us all together as a unit. Dating back to 1980, or maybe even
May you and your loved ones be inscribed in the Book of Life and have a happy, healthy, prosperous and extraordinary New Year.
’75, my family would go to [Ohef Sholom] Temple for Rosh Hashanah services, and then we’d go out to eat at Doumar’s afterward. We started with just my family, but the core group would grow as my dad invited more people, saying, “Come on to Ben Simon
Doumar’s with us!” Over the years, our family got bigger, and
we added in my wife Heidi, and our three kids, Heidi’s sister and kids, her
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mother and brother, then Britt and Shelley and Kim and Andrew and their kids, and sometimes Andrew’s parents or brothers, and their kids! There were a lot of us, so we’d go into this back room that has two- and four-top tables in it, and we’d cram all of the tables together and line them up in front of the booth that goes around the back wall. Then this humongous group would all squeeze in together. I remember—and my kids still remember, even though they were knee-high when they first started going and are 15 and 18 now—seeing Mr. Doumar making cones out front, and going to look at all of the pictures on the walls of the really old cars and roller skaters while we waited for our food. We’d order hotdogs, barbecue, milkshakes, ice cream cones, and we loved to get either the lime crush or the orange crush. Then, as quick as we ate, it was over, and we were up and out and everyone went their own ways. We don’t go there regularly on Rosh Hashanah anymore, but when we do go, because of that tradition we had, it’s special.
www.jewishva.org jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 45
What children can teach us at Rosh Hashanah by Dasee Berkowitz
NEW YORK (JTA)—A deep spiritual life is hard to find. While opportunities abound for spiritual connections (yoga, meditation, retreats and the like), for most of us it doesn’t
come easy. The noise, unfinished to-do lists and the distractions of everyday life interfere with quieting our minds, letting go of our egos for a moment and connecting to something far greater than ourselves. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
we notice just how difficult it is to connect spiritually. As we log in hours of prayer at our neighborhood synagogues, with unfamiliar liturgy and an unfamiliar language, we can easily let the longing for spiritual growth morph into a longing for the service to be over. But for some, the spiritual life that we crave comes naturally. This is especially true for children. Yes, they may be running through the synagogue’s aisles and “whispering” too loudly, but this time of year they can become our best teachers. We just need to slow down enough to listen to them. Cultivating a relationship with God comes easy for children. As an adult, a relationship with God has never been central to my Jewish identity. It might sound strange because I live an observant life and prayer is important to me. The weekly holiday cycle punctuates my family’s calendar and Jewish ethics frame much of my behavior. Still, I seldom credit my observance to God. Judaism is important to me because it adds meaning to my life. And if I start speaking about God, I start to feel self-conscious, too “religious” and slightly fundamentalist. Then I notice how easily my kids speak about God. At three, my son periodically gave a high five to God and explained to others what a blessing was. “A bracha,” he would say, “is like a group hug.” With his simple young mind, he experienced both a level of intimacy with God and recognized that connecting to God helps one develop a sense of intimacy with others. The rabbis call Rosh Hashanah “Coronation Day.” In the rabbinic mind, the metaphor of crowning God as Ruler and giving God the right to judge our actions was a powerful way to galvanize Jews to do the hard work of repentance, or teshuvah. While the image of a King sitting in judgment might motivate some, the rabbis also
knew that God is indescribable. Throughout the liturgy, they struggled to find other images that might penetrate the hearts of those who pray. The famous medieval piyut (liturgical poem) “Ki Anu Amekha” portrays God as a parent, a shepherd, a creator and lover. The images continued to proliferate in modern times. The theologian Mordechai Kaplan spoke of God as the power that makes for good in the world. And the contemporary poet Ruth Brin speaks about God as “the source of love springing up in us.” The liturgy on Rosh Hashanah challenges us to confront the meaning of God in our lives and then develop a level of intimacy with the Ineffable. While I am still not sure what God is, I am coming to appreciate the view that God is what inspires us to live our lives in service to others. Children have a natural ability to be awestruck. There is so little that they have experienced in life that it must be easy for them to experience wonder. We watch their delight as they find out how a salad spinner works, or when they find a worm squirming in the dirt, or when they observe how flowers change colors as they enter full bloom. These are not simply the sweet moments of childhood. These are ways of being that have deep theological resonance. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel recalls in Who is Man (1965), “Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us … to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.” Would that we could develop that sense of awe by first simply noticing our surroundings instead of being preoccupied with what comes next. We can make space this Rosh Hashanah to begin a journey toward wonder, whether you notice the cantor’s voice as she reaches a certain note, or hear the crackle of a candy
Children
offer their
love freely.
46 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
wrapper, or connect to the sound of your own breathing during the standing silent Amidah prayer. Take a walk sometime during the High Holidays and notice the leaves on the trees, the sunlight refracting from a window, the taste of holiday food at a meal or the voice of a loved one. Notice the small things and consider for that moment that they have ultimate significance. Consider the concept that Rosh Hashanah marks the birth of the world. Act as if nothing existed before this moment. Slow down, focus in, be silent and you may experience awe. Children forgive easily, grown-ups not so much. The central work of the period of the High Holidays is teshuvah, or return. We return to our better selves and make amends with those whom we have hurt in some way. Every year I recognize how uncomfortable I am to ask for forgiveness from family members, peers and colleagues. “So much time has passed” or “I’m sure they forgot about that incident” are common rationalizations I offer. What takes an adult days, weeks or even
years to let go of resentment takes children a matter of minutes before they are back to laughing with those with whom they once were angry. While it might be difficult to coax an “I’m sorry” from a child’s lips, they rebound quickly. It is a lesson for us. Children offer their love freely. I am overwhelmed daily with the unbridled love that my two-year-old daughter unleashes toward me as she jumps into my arms, hair flying, at the end of each day. For many adults, the doors of possibility seem to close more and more with every passing year. In contrast, the ecstatic joy and free spirit that children naturally exude is a lesson in being open to the fullness of what life can offer. This Rosh Hashanah, let the children be our teachers. As we do teshuvah, let’s return to a simpler time and the more childlike parts of ourselves—when a relationship with God was intimate, when awe came easy, when we didn’t harbor resentments and when the door was open wide to forgive and to love. —Dasee Berkowitz is a contributing writer to JTA.
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May the sound of the shofar herald health and happiness for your family and the promise of peace in Israel.
Families come first at Temple Israel. From Sunday school picnics to Purim dinners to lively Adon Olams on the bimah, Rabbi Michael Panitz does whatever it takes to make children and parents feel at home. The teachers are top notch, but it’s the warm and welcoming environment that really makes us happy to be Temple Israelites. Scott, Lori, Noah & Zoey Alperin
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jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 47
Going to the source of Rosh Hashanah sweetness by Edmon J. Rodman
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Here’s the buzz about Rosh Hashanah: Beyond a congregation or family, it takes a hive to have a holiday. You may have your tickets, new dress or suit and High Holidays app, but without the honey in which to dip a slice of apple, where would you be? We wish each other “Shanah tovah umetuka,” “Have a good and sweet New Year.” To further sweeten the calendar change we eat honey cake—even Martha Stewart has a recipe—and teiglach, little twisted balls of dough boiled in honey syrup. Little do we realize that to fill a jar or squeeze bottle containing two cups of the sticky, golden stuff, a hive of honeybees must visit five million flowers. For most of us, the honey seems a somehow natural byproduct of the cute,
Northridge, Calif. After three years of beekeeping—he also leads sessions with the school’s students—Laio has learned to appreciate that “thousands of bees gave their entire lives to fill a jar of honey.” In the summer, that’s five to six weeks for an adult worker; in the winter it’s longer. It’s been an appreciation gained through experience—the throbbing kind. “It’s dangerous. I’ve been stung a lot. It’s part of the learning,” Laio says. “The first summer I thought I was going into anaphylactic shock,” he adds, advising me to stay out of the bees’ flight path to the hive’s entrance. Drawing on his education, Laio puts a dab of honey on his finger and holds it out. Soon a bee lands and begins to feed. “Have you ever been stung?” he asks. “A couple of times,” I answer, as Laio uses a hand-held bee smoker to puff in
1 of 3 bits of food you eat is a result of honeybee pollination.
bear-shaped squeeze bottle that we pick up at the store. But for beekeeper Uri Laio, honey is like a gift from heaven. His motto, “Honey and Beeswax with Intention,” is on his website, chassidicbeekeeper.com. “Everyone takes honey for granted; I did,” says Laio, who is affiliated with Chabad and attended yeshiva in Jerusalem and Morristown, N.J. Not wanting to take my holiday honey for granted anymore, I suited up along with him in a white cotton bee suit and hood to visit the hives he keeps near the large garden area of the Highland Hall Waldorf School, an 11-acre campus in
some white smoke to “calm the hive.” After waiting a few minutes for the smoke to take effect, and with me watching wide-eyed, he carefully pries off the hive’s wooden lid. Half expecting to see an angry swarm of bees come flying out like in a horror flick, I step back. “They seem calm,” says Laio, bending down to listen to the buzz level coming from the hive. “Some days the humming sounds almost like song.” The rectangular stack of boxes, called a Langstroth Hive, allows the bee colony— estimated by Laio to be 50,000—to
48 | Jewish News | August 19, 2013 | Rosh Hashanah | jewishnewsva.org
efficiently build the waxy cells of honeycomb into vertical frames. As he inspects the frames, each still holding sedated bees, he finds few capped cells of honey. The bees have a way to go if Laio is going to be able to put up a small number of jars for sale, as he did last year for Rosh Hashanah. According to Laio, hives can be attacked by ants, mites, moths and a disease called bee colony collapse disorder, that has been decimating hives increasingly over the last 10 years. Pesticides contribute to the disorder as well as genetically modified plants, he says. Underscoring the importance that bees have in our lives beyond the Days of Awe, Laio calculates that “one out of every three bits of food you eat is a result of honeybee pollination.” Laio practices backwards or treatment-free beekeeping; so called because he relies on observation and natural practices and forgoes pesticides or chemicals in his beekeeping. The resulting wildflower honey—Laio hands me a jar to try—is sweet, flavorful and thick, tastier than any honey from the store. “Honey is a superfood. And it heals
better than Neosporin,” Laio claims. “In Europe there are bandages impregnated with honey.” He says it takes a certain type of character to be a beekeeper. “You need to have patience. Be determined. Learn your limitations. Be calm in stressful situations,” he says. “People are fascinated with it. I can’t tell you how many Shabbos table meals have been filled with people asking me about bees.” On the Sabbath, Laio likes to sip on a mint iced tea sweetened with his honey— his only sweetener, he says. “In the Talmud, honey is considered to be one-sixtieth of manna,” says Laio, referring to the “bread” that fell from the sky for 40 years while the Israelites wandered in the desert. “The blessing for manna ended with ‘Min hashamayim,’ ‘from the heavens,’ and not ‘min haaretz,’ ‘from the earth.’” With the honey-manna connection in mind, especially at the Jewish New Year, Laio finds that “all the sweetness, whatever form it is in, comes straight from God.” —Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at edmojace@gmail.com.
H O L I D AY M E M O R I E S Deb Segaloff
Thinking about love and loss at R o s h H a s h a n a h My greatest memories of Rosh Hashanah all include my cousin, Sam Brooke, of blessed memory.
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We were the same age—we went to Hebrew Academy together, we went to shul together, we had our meals together. When I think of families and ceremony and Rosh Hashanah, I think of him. He died when he was only 25. We always sat together during Rosh
Deb Segaloff
Hashanah services at Temple Israel where we grew up, and we felt like we
5774
owned the place! We were even given special parts in the service. Isaac Danker was our cantor, and he gave me Adam, Adam to sing. I can remember the tune vividly today, and can still sing it on command. And—this is sad, but it means a lot to me, too—before Cantor Danker died, I visited him in the hospital. Lying in his bed, he asked me to sing Adam, Adam with him, and so we sang it together in that hospital room. When we finished, he told me that it was also his part in the service when he was young, something he’d never shared with me before. It made that memory even more special for me.
L’Shana Tova 5774
5774
Happy New Year! L’shana tova tikatevu
May You Be Inscribed in the Book of Life The Simon Family Jewish Community Center Board of Directors and its Staff wishes everyone a sweet and healthy new year. www.simonfamilyj.org
jewishnewsva.org | Rosh Hashanah | August 19, 2013 | Jewish News | 49
High Holidays in the Holy Land by Raven P. Rutherford
Less than two weeks after moving to Israel from Virginia Beach in September 2012, the big question I found myself faced with was: “What do I do for the high holidays?” I was living and working in Tel Aviv as a participant in an arts internship program through the organization, WUJS. Between trying to understand an entirely different language, figuring out how to get around an unfamiliar city, remembering the names all of the new people I was meeting and being so excited to live in Israel, I wasn’t really prepared for the rapid-fire holidays that were coming up. My WUJS group had about 40 participants from all over the world—the United States, Canada, England, France, and Switzerland—and from all different Jewish backgrounds. While some had plans for the high holidays—they had family in Israel or close friends living there—the rest of us were left trying to decide what to do. Do we find a temple to go to? Should we look for English-speaking services, or simply embrace the Hebrew and try to follow along as best we could? And what in the world is the actual difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardic services? (I was frequently asked which one I would prefer. I had no answer…a year later, I still don’t.) After dozens of discussions, those of us who didn’t have someplace to go for Rosh Hashanah made a quick and concise decision—we’d go to the beach. We weren’t alone. The beach was
crowded with tourists and Israelis who decided sea and sand were the way to go this holiday. Everywhere I looked, I could see people playing matkot (a racket ball game, and the unofficial national sport of Israel), splashing in the Mediterranean and working on their tans. It was a great way to spend the day. My Rosh Hashanah experience wasn’t totally without recognition of the importance of the holiday. When we came back from the beach, my roommates and others in the WUJS program who were still in Tel Aviv went up to our rooftop deck for a potluck dinner. On two tables pushed together spread with a white cloth, we arranged our feast—potatoes, salad, soup, chicken, challah, and—of course—hummus. Two of the people in my program led a service and prayers before we ate: Jess, a rabbinical student, and Steven, the most fluent of us all in Hebrew. While it might not have been the most religious way to observe Rosh Hashanah, it was very spiritual to be under the stars, with friends, in Israel, and it just felt right. What a difference it was for me to go from attending Rosh Hashanah services at my temple in Norfolk—Ohef Sholom—and the synagogues I went to in Columbia, S.C. while going to college there, to entering the high holiday season in Israel. Rosh Hashanah was just the beginning, though. Yom Kippur was a totally different story. —Read Raven’s Yom Kippur experience in Israel in the Sept. 2 issue of Jewish News.
Those
Raven Rutherford celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Tel Aviv.
Wishing You a Happy & Healthy New Year!
of us who didn’t
have someplace to
go for Rosh Hashanah made a quick and
concise decision— we’d go to the beach.
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