Congrega(on Beth Elohim 133 Prospect Street Acton, MA 01720 Michael Rothbaum, Rabbi Sarra Spierer, Cantor Beth R. Goldstein, RJE, Director of EducaEon Susan C. Perry, Director, Early Learning Center Lewis Mintz, Rabbi Emeritus The Star February 2021 • Volume 43, Number 7 Contents DonaEon Acknowledgements 7-9 .................. How to Reach Us 4 ......................................... People of Chelm Want to Know, Answers 5 ... People of Chelm Want to Know, QuesEons 4 President’s Message 3, 5, 6 ............................ Schedule of Services 3 ................................... Scholar in Residence Weekend Flyer 2 .......... Calendar 10, 11 ..............................................
Transcript
Congrega(on Beth Elohim
133 Prospect Street
Acton, MA 01720
Michael Rothbaum, Rabbi
Sarra Spierer, Cantor
Beth R. Goldstein, RJE, Director of EducaEon
Susan C. Perry, Director, Early Learning Center
Lewis Mintz, Rabbi Emeritus
The Star February 2021 • Volume 43, Number 7
Contents
DonaEon Acknowledgements 7-9 ..................
How to Reach Us 4 .........................................
The Star is generally published monthly by Congregation Beth Elohim and is mailed at Acton, MA. To request a subscription call Congregation Beth Elohim at 978-263-3061 or write to 133 Prospect Street, Acton, MA 01720.
The deadline posted in the previous month’s issue, is generally the 15th of the
previous month, slightly earlier in case of holidays. Material for inclusion in The Star may be submitted:
via email: [email protected] (receipt acknowledged);as camera ready or handwritten copy; orby FAX: call Congregation Beth Elohim or the editor.
Receipt of material can be verified by calling the editor after the deadline. Editor: Bob Becker 978-263-8097.
Scholar in Residence Weekend with Ruth W. Messinger February 12-14, 2021
Ruth W. Messinger works as a social justice consultant in the Jewish community in New York, engaged with issues of race/racism, voting rights, immigration and the environment, and teaches civic engagement and organizing. From 1998 to 2016 she was the CEO of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international human rights and development organization which she continues to serve as its Global Ambassador. Previously, she had a twenty-year career in public service in New York City. She is married to an educator and has three children, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
CBE Adult Education Presents
Visit the CBE website for more detail. www.bethelohim.org/scholar-2021
Potential & Peril: Attempting to Live a Life of Jewish Values
The event is free, but donations aregratefully accepted. For more information please contact [email protected]. Congregation Beth Elohim 133 Prospect Street, Acton
Friday, February 12 Shabbat service at 6:15 pm followed by: "How Did I Get to This Judaism, and What it’s Like to Live It:” How Ruth Messinger Found the Jewish Roots of Fighting City Hall — in conversation with Rabbi Mike Rothbaum
Saturday, February 13 10:30 am Study with Ruth Messinger Parashat Mishpatim — Lessons on Life from Shmattes and Donkeys
Sunday, February 14 10:15 am Guest Speaker: Ruth Messinger What Does It Mean to Live With Social Justice in Your Life? Rewards and Challenges
On cold snowy days in the middle of winter, like today, I try to think happy thoughts to get me through the day. Truthfully, they come a little less easy these days, but luckily there are still plenty of good things happening in our community.
Did you know, it is fewer than fifty days until spring starts?
Also, there are at least a few very special people with birthdays in February, one of them is my better half, Amy, who turns 39. Guess who the other one may be?
As you might imagine, I participate in a few CBE related meetings throughout the week and receive some emails as well. More and more I hear from fellow congregants that they have received the vaccine. This is truly great news, first and foremost for the folks receiving the vaccine. But of course also because it means we may be (slowly) getting to the end of this nightmare. Maybe soon we can start
dreaming again about getting together in the building. As I mentioned in my January comments, it is still too premature to make any prediction about when we may have in person meetings again. Synagogue leadership and the Covid-19 Task Force continues to monitor the situation. I still think that by the end of Q1 we will be able to provide more specific information with respect to our re-opening plan.
I am also excited to share that we have successfully applied for, and received, a (forgivable) loan under the second wave of the Paycheck Protection Program. With this loan there is no doubt that we will make it successfully through the pandemic.
Talking about excitement and making it through the pandemic, I am so proud to announce that we reached our High Holiday Appeal goal to raise $100,000. The participation rate was 65%, while short of the 100% goal, it is well above the usual 20%. This is truly awesome and from the bottom of my heart I want to thank all who donated; Emil Ray for his tremendous efforts organizing the fifteen-week campaign; and
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Schedule of Services
Monday, February 1 4:00 PM Mincha Service February 2, 3, 4 4:00 PM Mincha Service (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Friday, February 5 5:30 PM Tot Shabbat Service Friday, February 5 6:00 PM Candle Lighting Friday, February 5 6:15 PM Music and Movement Shabbat Service Saturday, February 6 9:30 AM Shabbat Service—Sophia Marder Bat Mitzvah February 9, 10, 11 4:00 PM Mincha Service (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Friday, February 12 6:15 PM Shabbat Power Hour Service—
Scholar-in-Residence Ruth Messinger Saturday, February 13 9:30 AM Shacharit Service Saturday, February 13 10:30 AM Torah Study with Scholar-in-Residence Ruth Messinger Sunday, February 14 9:30 AM Shacharit Service February 16, 17, 18 4:00 PM Mincha Service (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Friday, February 19 6:15 PM Tefillah b'Ivrit Shabbat Service Saturday, February 20 9:30 AM Shacharit Service Saturday, February 20 10:30 AM Torah Study February 23, 24, 25 4:00 PM Mincha Service (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Thursday, February 25 5:15 PM Tot Purim Thursday, February 25 6:15 PM Purim Service and Community Megillah Reading Friday, February 26 7:30 PM Reform-Style Shabbat Service Saturday, February 27 9:30 AM Shacharit Service Saturday, February 27 10:30 AM Torah Study
Reviving the column devoted to questions about Jewish history called
The People of Chelm Want to Know…
This column was revived just over a year ago in The Star after a decade of dormancy. Each month there are now two fairly difficult questions, and you should be congratulated for trying to wrestle with them. If you do not know an answer, you will find it on the next page. Please share your new knowledge with your neighbors, fellow congregants, and especially the people of Chelm. In Jewish folklore, the people of Chelm were famed for coming up with bizarre and usually incorrect answers to even the simplest questions.
1. Last month’s Martin Luther King Day tribute wasan inspiring event, with over 300 virtual (Zoom)attendees. We heard from many wonderful localpeople involved in the pursuit of racial and socialjustice. This event is an occasion also to honor a trulyremarkable man, who spoke so eloquently for justiceand offered a vision of a better day to come. It is nowonder his words have found such wide acceptancein Judaism, including passages in many Passoverhaggadot. Dr. King is indeed a modern day prophet,in the great tradition of Amos and Isaiah. And he alsospoke and worked actively for economic justice and itwas in this cause that he lost his life, at the hands ofsniper in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. Doyou know why he was in Memphis at that time? In avery direct way, it involved the City of Memphis.
2. History, like contemporary life, is really a flow andnot a collection of events fixed at one particular timeor another. But on some special occasions, we do feel
like we are witnessing history. Recent examples include the Capitol Insurgency on January 6 and Presidential Inauguration two weeks later. In the first list below are the generally accepted dates of several key dates in Jewish history. Can you associate each of these dates with a key event in the formation of Judaism listed in the second list? As many of know, years in Jewish history are typically expressed with the designation BCE “Before Common Era” or CE “Common Era” after the year. BCE is equivalent to the more familiar BC (“Before Christ”), and CE is equivalent to AD (“Anno Domini” in Latin meaning Year of the Lord). Thus, the year we are now in can be expressed as 2021 AD or 2021 CE.
Events:A. Codification of the Mishnah (the Oral Law)B. The destruction of the First Temple by theBabyloniansC. The building of the First Temple at Jerusalem inSolomon’s reignD. The origin of the practice of public Torah readingby EzraE. The dispersal of the northern kingdom of Israel bythe AssyriansF. The destruction of the Second Temple by theRomans
How to Reach Us
Telephone
12 15 14 13
The congregation office telephone number is 978-263-3061. Dial these extensions for:
Rabbi Rothbaum Cantor Spierer Beth Goldstein Susan C. Perry & ELC Lori Lafayette 17
Web Site Our congregation web site, www.bethelohim.org, includes the online edition of The Star as well as a variety of other information including a bookstore link (Amazon.com) and a donation form.
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every member who generously offered their thoughts in the beautiful videos.
Even though the building is closed, there is still so much going on at CBE, so many volunteers working their heart out to bring exciting programming to you. At the risk of forgetting someone, let me recognize the many volunteers who have been busy in the past month, in no particular order.
My colleagues on the Board of Directors, thank you for all you do.
The phenomenal editor of The Star, Bob Becker, supported by his wife, Kathie.
Rick Green, the phenomenal editor of the weekly (and sometimes even more frequent) Star-Lite.
Sarah Coletti and Sal Lopes for organizing a powerful MLK celebration. More than 300 Zoom screens, a CBE record.
The Sisterhood and Brotherhood under the leadership of, respectively, Lauren Pollak and Andrew Gruskay. Thank you for all the support provided by you and your teams.
Sarah Coletti and the Na’aseh team, working hard every day to help make this world a better place.
The membership committee, which continues to meet on a regular basis to think about inreach and outreach: Randi Taylor; Sue Abrams; Rochelle Rubin; and Elise Jacobson.
Waky for the weekly ‘Torah Study with Waky.’
Elaine Braun-Keller and the Minyanaires for the daily Mincha services.
Gary and Judy Budiansky for continuing to support our Shulcloud and email infrastructure.
The Constitution and Bylaws Restatement Committee: Alison Maker; Alan Weiss; Sue Abrams; Arye Hess; Linda Minkoff; Brian Hess; Rachel Gwaltney; and Barbara Green Whitbeck.
The Governance Amud: George Morton; Les Kramer; Alan Weiss; Maureen Parker; Laura Kelmar; and Chuck Pollak.
Judy Kramer and the wonderful Choir. Even though I am writing this one day before the annual Shabbat Shirah, I think I can state without much risk that it once again was an awesome performance.
Adult Education, under the leadership of Matt Liebman and Leslie Sternberg, preparing for what will
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President’s Message (con(nued)
Answers for the people of Chelm
and any other curious souls.
1. In the great tradition of the prophets, Dr. Martin Luther King had a way of engaging in the everyday battles while at the same time connecting people’s efforts to much larger, universal moral themes. Dr. King was in Memphis that April of 1968 to lead a march in support of the striking the sanitation workers of the City of Memphis. Over 1,300 garbagemen walked off their jobs in support of better working conditions and union recognition. They were paid abysmal wages, suffered intolerable working conditions, had no benefits of any kind, and could be fired for any injury incurred on the job. King’s goals included not just racial justice but economic justice. The sanitation workers included many black Americans as well as many other ethnic backgrounds. All were poor. The strike assumed national significance, galvanizing support on both sides. A few weeks after Dr. King’s death, the city did grant union recognition, and this led to further gains for public workers all over the South and in other parts of our country. In his last major speech given the night before his death, Dr. King recalled Moses when he
said that he “had been to the mountaintop. ” He had seen the promised land and knew that people who followed will get there. We can all help realize that dream.
2. Real history is indeed complex, fluid, and interwoven, but there are signposts that often help define a particular era. We will see if the election of 2020 is one of the for American history. For Jewish history, the six key milestones given in the question can be arranged chronologically as follows:
1. C. The building of the First Temple at Jerusalem in Solomon’s reign, about 920 BCE
2. E. The dispersal of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, 722 BCE
3. B. The destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians, 586 BCE
4. D. The origin of the practice of public Torah reading by Ezra, about 430 BCE
5. F. The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, 70CE
6. A. The codification of the Mishnah (the Oral Law), about 200 CE
(conEnued on the next page)
Congregation Beth Elohim THE STAR February 2021
in two weeks surely be another fantastic Scholar-in-Residence Weekend, featuring Ruth Messinger.
The COVID-19 task force of Elaine Braun-Keller, Jaymi Formaggio, Les Kramer, George Morton, Neal Silverman, David Naparstek, and Bob Ferrara.
The “web support team” of Maida Fund, Lauren Solomon, and Gary Budiansky for supporting all the events going on.
Barbara Frank Michaelsen and her kitchen crew (Sara Levine, Ann Budner, Marcy & Hannah Hoban and Amy Leers) for preparing 40+ dinners for MLK day.
Chips Naparstek for making sure that all checks get deposited and credited to the correct accounts.
Barbara Frank (the other one) for all the awesome work to organize Comedy Night featuring Joel Chasnoff. I also want to thank the fantastic support team of Emil Ray, Linda Minkoff, Tom Wachtell, Ellen
Valade, Matt Liebman, and Dan Klein. Also here I am pretty confident to predict it was an awesome evening.
And last but not least, I want to thank our clergy, professional staff and teachers for their continued hard work and dedication with a special shout out to Lori Lafayette for covering all the administrative tasks ‘dumped’ on her in December.
And, everyone I forgot. In all seriousness, if I forgot you, please do let me know and I will make it right. I apologize in advance for the inevitable.
This was just what happened in January, amazing. I hope that your takeaway is that a lot of work is being undertaken to further strengthen CBE and continue to provide the programming you desire. And if you feel left out, please let me know and we can get you involved as well!
Stephen & Diane Richter "in honor of Waky for the Wednesday Torah Study sessions and all she does for the Congregation, and Sal Lopes for all he does for the Brotherhood and the Congregation"
Robert & Deena Ferrara
Alex Young Social Ac(on Fund
Barbara Green & Chris Whitbeck
Emily & Michael Blumberg in honor of Marcy and Don Hoban
Eileen & Benjamin Myers
Peter & Heidi Lovitz
Melissa & David Morse
Cantoral Fund
Susan & Rodney Hass
Choir Fund
Lauren Solomon in honor of Judy Kramer and Cindi Silverman for keeping us singing in 2020
Shelley & Daniel Klein in memory of Judy Kramer's sister, Iris Gross
Chips & David Naparstek in memory of Judy Kramer's sister, Iris Gross
Robert & Deena Ferrara in memory of Iris Gross, Judy Kramer's beloved sister
Michelle & Chris Siegert in memory of Iris Gross, sister of Judy Kramer
Michelle & Chris Siegert "in memory of Carolee and George Schaffer's grandson, Stratton. May his memory be for a blessing."
Susan & Rodney Hass
Ellen & Mark Koretz in memory of Iris Gross, Judy Kramer's sister
Martha Shane in memory of Stratton, George and Carolee Shaffer’s beloved grandson
Amy Naparstek Israel Scholarship Fund
Bill & Marcia Harris in memory of Amy Sara Naparstek and her grandfather, Ben Harris
Doris & Freddy Goldstein in loving memory of Amy on the occasion of her yahrzeit
Bruce Sabot in honor of Arielle Faith Sabot's graduation from New York University in 2020
Chesed Fund
Chips & David Naparstek in memory of Carolee and George Schaffer's grandson, Stratton
General Fund
Esther Bachrach in memory of David Bachrach
Eileen & Benjamin Myers "Thank you to Andrew and Sue Gruskay for delivering a Hanukkah goodie bag"
Ronda Kenger in honor of the yahrzeit of her father, Jerome Saks
Sandra Roschelle & Peter Darlow in memory of Sandy's parents, Miriam and Irving Roschelle
Bob & Kathie Becker in memory of Carolee and George Schaffer's grandson, Stratton Adams
Bob & Kathie Becker in memory of Judy Kramer's sister, Iris Gross
Victoria Costello
High Holiday Appeal
Leslie Sternberg
Bruce Sabot in Honor Of My children Aaron and Arielle Sabot
Alex Lessin
Hineni Capital Campaign
Leora Zimmer
Rabbi's Discre(onary Fund
Shelley & Daniel Klein in memory of Carolee and George Schaffer's grandson, Stratton
Dona(ons
The congregation thanks our members, their relatives and friends, and the larger community for donations recently received…
Congregation Beth Elohim THE STAR February 2021
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Dona(ons
The congregation thanks our members, their relatives and friends, and the larger community for donations recently received…
Na'aseh Social Jus(ce Fund
Gail, Dick & Stephanie Palm in honor of Sarah Coletti, with congratulations on her conversion to Judaism
Daniel & Shelley Klein in memory of Art Shane
Martha Shane in memory of Art Shane
Mar(n Luther KIng, Jr. Tribute
Susan Abrams
Richard Burrows
Cynthia Soule
Margaret K Saphier
Edward A Bayne
Ellen Valade
Dana Snyder-Grant
Carolyn Platt
Christine Brown
Matthew Liebman & Amy Michelson
Carole Marcacci
Julia Day
Leslie Fisher
Margaret K Saphier
Tom & Marlene Wachtell
Bob Van Meter
Roland Gibson
Margaret Liversidge
Ellen Valade
Hannah Bloch
Jo-Anne & Barry Nyer
Janet K Adachi
Miriam Lezak
Anne Dranka
Carol Barron
David Martin
Nancy Brown
Phyllis Myung
Younger by the Year
Evelyn Bennett
Leslie & Andrew Knight
Beth Hellerbach-Rozek & Leon Rozek
Sarra Spierer & Elan Riesman
Bridget Chamberas
Cynthia Soule
Jacqueline Gottesman
Peter Light
Sandra Roschelle & Peter Darlow
Christine Vanasse
Debra McLean
Elaine Dors
Lauren & George Morton
Melissa Dempsey
David & Karen Jarsky
David Brusie
Mary Donald
Benjamin Wolfson
Cynthia Heiland
David Gerratt
East Side Goods
Eleanor Terry
Gary & Judy Budiansky
Joan Fischer
Marilyn Peterson
Becca Ford
February 2021 THE STAR Congregation Beth Elohim
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Mar(n Luther KIng, Jr. Tribute (Con(nued)
Alec Lewis
Andrew Stimac
Anne Anderson
Beverley Bryant
David Pavlik
Jane Murphey
Kathleen Luce
Kathleen Watt
Melissa C Buono
Nancy Boucher
Wendy Holt
Amy Osenar
Daniel & Shelley Klein
Jeanine Wood
Deborah Werneburg
Margaret S Tucker
Nidhi Kapoor
Abigail Reip
Charles & Lauren Pollak
Frances Nolde
Frances Osman
Helen Young
Hubert Fortmiller
Jo Candee Cundy
Karen & Michael Brandstein
Michael McKendry
Randi & Roger Taylor
Richard Gentilman
Robin Orford
Ruth Richards
Adrienne B Nicosia
Cavalcade Collectibles
Coleen Phillimore
Darien Smith
Elizabeth Norton
Griet Dehandschutter
Judith Aronstein
Kera Matthews
Marion Scott
Priscilla Bolte
Richard & Shelley Green
Russell Hart
Sandra Gieseke
Stephen Lewin-Berlin
Susan & Stuart Wachter
Tami Gouveia
Won Mee
William Froberg
Dona(ons
The congregation thanks our members, their relatives and friends, and the larger community for donations recently received…
