CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL “A Family of Families” March 2017 Friday, March 3 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm Saturday, March 4 Shabbat Service @ 9:00am Friday, March 10 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm *Followed by PURIM Family Dinner Saturday, March 11 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Friday, March 17 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm Saturday, March 18 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Friday, March 24 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm Saturday, March 25 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Friday, March 31 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm Saturday, April 1 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am CALENDAR OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES >> Torah Study Saturdays @ 11:00am Please come and join us The old joke is that Jewish festivals can be defined as “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” On Purim we might also add “drink and be merry!” In the Book of Esther, Mordechai declares the new festival by sending a letter to the Jews of the empire “ to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year – the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.” According to the Talmud, therefore, the month of Adar, in which Purim occurs, is a month in which we “increase with joy.” But in a way this seems a bit odd. Certainly we would be naturally happy to have survived such a threat to the Jewish people. But the obvious emotional response would seem to be relief rather than joy. Our ancestors celebrated out of relief, to let off steam from all the pent up anxiety born of fear that they would be killed by Haman. But after that, for subsequent years, it might be expected that the commemoration of a near genocide of the Jewish people would be more subdued. Why would the festival enshrine that momentary joy as the essential element of this festival for all time? Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, argues that the joy of Purim and the month of Adar is a therapeutic joy. He notes: “The Jewish response to trauma is counterintuitive and extraordinary. You defeat fear by joy. You conquer terror by collective celebration. You prepare a festive meal, invite guests, give gifts to friends… Precisely because the threat was so serious, you refuse to be serious – and in that refusal you are doing something very serious indeed. You are denying your enemies a victory. You are declaring that you will not be intimidated. As the date of the scheduled destruction approaches, you surround yourself with the single most effective antidote to fear: joy in life itself.” This is an important message that reminds us that, no matter how dark the world seems to be, our response should be to increase joy for ourselves and for all around us. As we look at a world that is often scary and worrying in many ways and, as we hear of very troubling ant-Semitic incidents around the United States and the world, we take the lessons of Mordechai after the awful threats we survived in the Book of Esther and apply them in advance to the problems of our time. We declare that we will commit ourselves to hope and joy rather than fear and dread. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught: “It is a great mitzvah to be happy always… Strengthen yourself to push aside all… sadness. Everyone has lots of problems and the nature of humanity is to be attracted to sadness. To escape these difficulties, constantly bring joy into your life—even if you have to resort to silliness.” Purim is silly and joyous. But it is not simply frivolous and fun. It is a genuine and hopeful response to darkness and fear in in our lives and in our world. When we celebrate Purim it is not just a celebration of a festival (as important as that may be) but a profound statement of resilience and life. Have a joyful Purim! Rabbi Ilan Emanuel RABBI’S MESSAGE
Transcript
CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL
“A Family of Families”
March 2017
Friday, March 3 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm
Saturday, March 4 Shabbat Service @ 9:00am
Friday, March 10 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm *Followed by PURIM Family Dinner
Saturday, March 11 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am
Friday, March 17 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm
Saturday, March 18 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am
Friday, March 24 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm
Saturday, March 25 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am
Friday, March 31 Shabbat Service @ 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 1 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am
CALENDAR OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES >>
Torah Study Saturdays @ 11:00am
Please come and join us
The old joke is that Jewish festivals can be defined as “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” On Purim we might also add “drink and be merry!” In the Book of Esther, Mordechai declares the new festival by sending a letter to the Jews of the empire “to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year – the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned
from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.” According to the Talmud, therefore, the month of Adar, in which Purim occurs, is a month in which we “increase with joy.” But in a way this seems a bit odd. Certainly we would be naturally happy to have survived such a threat to the Jewish people. But the obvious emotional response would seem to be relief rather than joy. Our ancestors celebrated out of relief, to let off steam from all the pent up anxiety born of fear that they would be killed by Haman. But after that, for subsequent years, it might be expected that the commemoration of a near genocide of the Jewish people would be more subdued. Why would the festival enshrine that momentary joy as the essential element of this festival for all time? Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, argues that the joy of Purim and the month of Adar is a therapeutic joy. He notes: “The Jewish response to trauma is counterintuitive and extraordinary. You defeat fear by joy. You conquer terror by collective celebration. You prepare a festive meal, invite guests, give gifts to friends… Precisely because the threat was so serious, you refuse to be serious – and in that refusal you are doing something very serious indeed. You are denying your enemies a victory. You are declaring that you will not be intimidated. As the date of the scheduled destruction approaches, you surround yourself with the single most effective antidote to fear: joy in life itself.” This is an important message that reminds us that, no matter how dark the world seems to be, our response should be to increase joy for ourselves and for all around us. As we look at a world that is often scary and worrying in many ways and, as we hear of very troubling ant-Semitic incidents around the United States and the world, we take the lessons of Mordechai after the awful threats we survived in the Book of Esther and apply them in advance to the problems of our time. We declare that we will commit ourselves to hope and joy rather than fear and dread. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught: “It is a great mitzvah to be happy always… Strengthen yourself to push aside all… sadness. Everyone has lots of problems and the nature of humanity is to be attracted to sadness. To escape these difficulties, constantly bring joy into your life—even if you have to resort to silliness.” Purim is silly and joyous. But it is not simply frivolous and fun. It is a genuine and hopeful response to darkness and fear in in our lives and in our world. When we celebrate Purim it is not just a celebration of a festival (as important as that may be) but a profound statement of resilience and life. Have a joyful Purim! Rabbi Ilan Emanuel
RABBI’S MESSAGE
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Meredith Ryan, Religious School Director Leslie Green, Shabbat Dinner Coordinator
CBI Executive Board President Chris Adler
First Vice President George Kopf
Second Vice President Richard Hausman
Secretary Leslie Levy
Treasurer Greg Marks
Past President Suzy Hilliard
Sisterhood Representative Jerri Osberg
Adult Education Chair David Jacobs
Cemetery Chairs Robert Adler
Carl Kuehn,
Gary Blum
Ritual Committee Chairs Andrew Sheinberg Jim Gold
Membership Committee Chair Suzy Hilliard
Social Action Committee Chair Linda Snider
Dues Committee Chairs Ann Engel
Jim Gold
Building Chair Bill Adams
Grounds Chair Rikki Schmitchel
Fine Arts Chair Laurie Mintz
Committee Chairs
PHYLLIS ROSEMAN HONORED WITH “COMMUNITY BUILDER” AWARD
Phyllis Roseman will be honored with the ‘Community
Builder Award” by Masonic Lodge 189 on
Wednesday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m.
The Masonic Temple is located at 4114 Weber Road.
We are all invited to attend with the (free) dinner beginning at 6:30. The award ceremony will follow.
RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST. PLEASE call in your reservation to CBI at 361-857-8181
or to Chris and Robert Adler at 361-850-0500.
"SEPHARDIC ROOTS THROUGH SPAIN AND MEXICO….
a personal journey”
Adult Education: Sunday, March 5th at 10:30 am at CBI
Herb Canales, speaker, is a native of Corpus Christi and a mem-ber of an old South Texas family with Texas roots dating to the
18th century. For many years he has taken an interest in his family history which includes Sephardic roots through Spain and Mexico. He learned about this possible family connection while at Columbia University in New York where he earned his M.S. in 1979. In 1976 he earned his B.A. at the University of Texas. For 33 years he worked at the public library and served as director for 27 of those years. Recently he was an opinion writer for the Caller Times.
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CBI March Bulle n…2017 “The March Bulle n”…”March”….how can that be? I imagine you are feeling about the same way. It’s really been a good year. We have a new board coming into place in about 2 months. We renewed the Rabbi’s contract for 3 years, we’ve had great events….Adult Educa on programs, Shabbat Family dinners, great Food Fest, several new members, and more on the way…and a “plethora” of great ac vi es. I’m proud of our
Temple and I’m hoping you are, too. At our last board mee ng on February 8, we had an ongoing discussion about our “funds”, mainly our Endowment Funds, Cemetery Funds, and Trust Funds. Richard Leshin has agreed to come to our March board mee ng and explain some changes being made to our Funds & Endowments to keep us in compliance with the Laws. Again, ongoing thanks to Richard for authoring these documents, providing updates, and changes as needed. He also serves, along with David Engel and Don Feferman, as trustees of our Trust Documents. Thanks to all of you who volunteer your me and energy to our important commi ees. We truly appreciate you. Other ac vi es for the month include a great Sisterhood party at Blue Clove, and a trip to the Mosque in Victoria, to take the check ($1800) from our congrega on to the Islamic Center in Victoria. I’m sure you’re aware their mosque was completely destroyed by arson. The Imam was very recep ve and thankful for our gi . At this point, I’m looking at Sunday, April 2, for our Hebrew Rest ‘workday’. We’ll get a li le closer, and set a date IN INK. Anything you know of that keep us from turning out on April 2 to clean up that beau ful old cemetery? Have a great March…
Chris Adler
President, Congrega on Beth Israel
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PURIM Family Shabbat Dinner Friday, March 10th
Services @ 6:30pm with dinner to follow
Howdy Pardners!
Y'all come and join us for a Country music, Cowboy and Cowgirl themed Purim as we celebrate the story of Mordechai and Esther facing down Haman at high noon at the
Shushan Coral!
Bring a dessert to share.
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Thank you to all of the students and teachers who helped to create our beautiful herb garden in honor of Tu B’Shevat. A special thank you to Lisa Schmidt for helping with the garden and providing many supplies. We would also like to extend a thank you to everyone who brought tissue paper rolls. On March 26th, the Religious School class will have a beach party in lieu of our regular Religious School classes. More details will follow as the date approaches. If you are interested in a Jewish family retreat, please log on to www.greene.org and check out the upcoming Family Retreat on March 3-5. Shalom, Meredith & Manuela
Corpus Christi Community Religious School Meredith Ryan & Manuela Sela, Directors
Shalom Y'All, First and foremost, I must give a big THANK YOU to Linda Snider and Sue Williams. They have been a tremendous help to me in the kitchen preparing our family dinners and helping with anything I need!! You are both a blessing and have made my job much easier! This month's Family Shabbat Dinner will take place on Friday, March 10th following 6:30 pm services. We will be celebrating Purim, so all costumes are welcome! I'll bet there will be some beautiful Queen Esthers and ruthless King Hamans! As always, bring your appetite and a dessert to share. Speaking of dessert, I want to thank everyone for bringing delicious desserts for everyone to share. Your generosity is heartfelt and very much appreciated! Until we break bread together again, Leslie Green Family Shabbat Dinner Coordinator email: [email protected] cell: (804) 334-5662
Family Shabbat Dinner
Religious School Dates:
March 5: Hebrew School 9:00-10:15 Sunday School 10:30-12:30 March 12: No Religious School March 19: No Religious School March 26: No Regular Religious School Beach Party
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SAVE THE DATES:
Tuesday, April 11 Congregational 2nd Night Passover Seder
(be sure to make your reservations ) *See attached reservation form
November 11 & 12, 2017: Food Fest
Please be sure to support your CBI Sisterhood by joining and paying your dues.
CBI Sisterhood News
Page 6 C o n g r e g a t i o n B e t h I s r a e l N e w s l e t t e r
Miriam Recognition Award
The annual Jewish Women’s Joint Installation will be held in May. The MIRIAM RECOGNITION AWARD will be presented recognizing an outstanding woman of the Corpus Christi Jewish Community. The recipient will be honored at this luncheon and will receive a MIRIAM’S CUP. The committee will be accepting nominations for this award from the community. A NOMINATION WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED WITH A RESUME OF THE INDIVIDUAL, according to the following guidelines:
1. Full participation in a variety of calendar community activities, with emphasis on contributions to Jewish organizations. 2. Ongoing acceptance of responsibility as a Leader and/or a Worker in the Jewish community. 3. Value and quality of contribution in time and work to the Jewish community. 4. Previous recipients of the Woman of the Year Award and the Miriam Recognition Award are NOT eligible. 5. IT IS NOT MANDATORY TO MAKE A SELECTION FOR THE MIRIAM RECOGNITION AWARD EACH YEAR. Please do not go to the person you intend to nominate for the resume. If you obtain help from family members, please ask them not to consult the nominee. If you need help preparing a resume or have questions concerning the nomina-tion, please contact any of the following recipients of the Woman of the Year/Miriam Recognition Award: Chris Adler Laura Hausman Amy Krams MaryLynn Rhodes Robin Adams Suzy Hilliard Nedra Lockhart Phyllis Roseman Ann Engel Ruth Josephs Marcia Marks Leigh Sheinberg Roz Ferrell Glenda Kane Laurie Mintz Elizabeth Susser Leah Goltzman Ruth Kane Julia Noble Mille Zalim
Please send your nominations for the Miriam Recognition Award to:
1. A resume is needed for the nomination 2. Do not consult the nominee for a resume 3. Nomination deadline is March 10, 2017.
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OUR NON‐HOLIDAY HOLIDAY Tu Bishevat occurred last month. You probably missed it because it is one of the least celebrated holidays of the Jewish tradi on. In the Mishnah, it is called “The New Year of the Trees,” or some mes ”The Jewish Arbor Day.”
You can be forgiven for not no ng this holiday, but you should know that it is taking root and growing at CBI. All you have to do is stand at the east end of our parking lot and you will be facing a grove of biblical plan ngs – and a few others. (Incidentally, Corpus Chris is just about on the same la tude as Jerusalem, so what grows there also flourishes here.)
Start with the tall live oak closest to the end of the building. Hor culturists tell us that a live ok is properly called a Holm oak. It is the same tree that is termed a terebinth in the Bible, and Abraham sat under a terebinth. If you have an inclina on to commune with a biblical patriarch, spend a few moments under his tree in our garden.
To the right, you will see a grape arbor which doubles as a sukkah. This structure was a gi from the family of Dr. Be Groner. It has not produced any usable grapes yet, but the birds are happy and there is always hope. To the right of the sukkah is a small garden with lilies, and other vegeta on that is referred to in the Bible. Now, if you move your gaze to the le , you’ll see willow and cypress, then two pomegranate bushes that are likely to be flowering in the Spring. Behind them are two date palms, but it will probably be several decades before they are ready to give us some fruit. Date palms grow very slowly, but we’ve planted them for future genera ons, as people who came before us did on our behalf. Our fig tree does bear fruit – delicious – and the Saturday morning Torah students o en enjoy this extra benefit of rising early on the weekend.
Nowhere in the Bible is there any men on of citrus, but we’ve got two of these. The smaller one is an orange tree. It was a gi of students from King High School as thanks for using our library to prac ce for a statewide intellectual compe on. We wanted a Jaffa orange tree in honor of the groves near Tel Aviv, but the nursery could not find one, so we se led on a Valencia tree in memory of the Spanish Jews expelled in 1492. We had a bumper crop this year, most of which was given to the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission.
Finally, we’re very proud of our pomelo, which we planted to connect us to the Reform Jewish kibbutz, Yahel, in the valley between the Dead Sea and Eilat. This tree also produces copious fruit, which our students and the residents at Good Samaritan enjoy.
You may not have observed Tu Bishevat this February, but you can connect with biblical Israel and its flora any me you come to CBI. So, happy New Year for our trees and plants. We hope you will enjoy them. Rabbi Ken Roseman
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We are deciding if there are enough people to make a dinner for the Ronald McDonald House Share-A-Meal program. We are looking at March 14 from 4:00 to 6:00 to make and serve a meal there. Please call or email if you can volunteer.
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PERPETUAL YAHRZEITS
Sabbath of March 3rd *Rachel Abbey *Ernestine Berlin *Fannie Braslau *Moritz Cohn *Sandra Davis *Irving Fenster Howard Freedman *Isadore Glanz *Oscar Greenberg *Fela Grossman *Rebecca Grossman Hattie Hoffman *Freda Jacobson Claire Joseph *Nathan Kessler *Gerald Klein *Rae Kleinman Robert Korn Sophie Krams *Shirley Liedeker *Ann Luce Birdie Maltzman Harry Marks *Bertha Minsky Rochelle Roby Dorothy Schwartz *Seymour Silver *Joe Simon Fannie Solomon *Yetta Tatar *Hyman Tolman *Sidney Weisman *Isadore Ziedman Sabbath of March 10th *Pauline Beilin *Heinrich Dannenbaum *Lester Davis *Jack Ducler *Morris Ettelman *Archie Goodman *Sarah Goodman *Alice Harrosch *Adolf Hausman *Otto Kuehn *Philip Lieberman *Jeanette Neumann Steven Reiter
Roslie Roberts *S. David Shor *Rose Siskind *Rae Weltman Helen White *Dora Wolfson *Sarah Zeidman
Sabbath of March 17th *Joseph Abbey *Hinda Adler Rebecca Bazaman *Morris Brand Marcie Braslau *Morris Braslau Rose Bresler *Lilly Flaum *Daniel Goltzman *Mitchell Goltzman *Lois Grossman *Elliott Hurwitz Helen Jacobs *Philipp Lachs *Bernard Lipman Faye Lipton *Violet Lipton Roslyne Massman Ryan Mendeloff Sanford Mintz *Malvina Newman Charles Patrick *Gertrude Perlick Freda Rednick Alvin Reingold *Isaac Silver Joe Simons *Benjamin Suchoff *Pearl Unger Susan "Sudy" Zane Sabbath of March 24th Abe Bazaman *Theodore Beck *Dora Benjamin *Josephine Bodker *Mildred Chafetz Michael Chaplick *Nathan Dunn Mort Finkelstein
*Samuel Flaum Jonathan Friedman *Max Goltzman *Mitchell Jacobson *Monette Karchmer *Ada Leshin Samuel Livni *Leon Loeb *Jerome Nast Jule Pels *Mary Rednick *Jerome Schlader *Serene Schmidt *Max Yaffe *Oscar Zantker
Sabbath of March 31st *Penny Baum Gil Cavazos *Abraham Danziger Raymond Falk *Donald Feuer *Sidney Ginsberg *David Grossman *James Harris Rose Hauer *Frances Hausman *Monroe Hausman *Sherry Hilton George Kopf *Brian Lee *Ida Levinson *Harry Minsky Maurice Nast Peter Oshman *Elizabeth Posner *Ruth Robinson *Gladys Schaffer Pauline Sheinberg *Leslie Simon, Sr. *Bill Trodlier *Julius Wahlberg *Alex Weil, Sr. Mary Zeidman
Page 10 C o n g r e g a t i o n B e t h I s r a e l N e w s l e t t e r
The Congregation thanks you for the following contributions
Don’t forget . You can remember a friend or relative with a minimum contribution of $5.00 to one of our many funds. These funds support camp scholarships, education, cemeteries, fine arts, library, & building improvements, to name a few. An acknowledgement card will be sent to the honored per-
son or family. Please make checks payable to CBI and specify the fund. Call the CBI office with any ques-tions.
Yahrzeit Donations
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Emmet Wiliams Sue Williams
Dorothy Schwartz Meredith & David Ryan
Joe Jessel Susan & Bill Martin
Joesph Axelrad
Tina Berlin Shelly Adelstein
Louis Susser Pat & Sam J. Susser
Bess Nance Chris & Robert Adler
Bert Haas Barbara & David May
Louis Susser
Cemetery Endowment Fund
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Pearlie Leshin Yetta & Marvin Leshin
Kornelia Meister Edith Mason
Hebrew Rest Fund
In Honor of-------------------------------------------------- From
Jerry Susser Ann & David Engel
Laser Family Social Action Fund
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Edythe & Alfred Laser Robin & Bill Adams
BJ Seal Suzy & John Hillard
Mitzvah Fund
In Honor of-------------------------------------------------- From
Ann & David Engel Susan & Bill Martin
on their Birthdays
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Esther Jessel Susan & Bill Martin
Edy Laser Rikki & Robert Schmitchel
Offenberg Library Fund
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Hilda Blum Lois & Gary Blum
Ray Falk Adult Education Fund
In Honor of-------------------------------------------------- From
Phyllis Roseman Rikki & Robert Schmitchel
Rabbi's Discretionary Fund
In Memory of------------------------------------------------ From
Joseph Simon Dean & Linda Snider
Lois Hersch Simons
Ed Hersch
Vera Reich Kleniec Nina Shannon
Susser Family Fund
In Honor of-------------------------------------------------- From
Pat Susser on her Birthday Shelly & Bruce Jacobson
