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Sivan/Tammuz 5778 -- President's Message
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Dear Friends,
Our annual congregational meeting convened on Sunday, March 25th. Nancy Lord & Laurie Kimmelstiel prepared an outstanding brunch. The meeting was well attended and was a great opportunity to share the past year's accomplishments. Members heard updates on past activities and committee reports, reviewed the financial report from 2017, and discussed the proposed 2018 budget. Norma Phillips was voted onto the board to fill the remainder of a one-year term. Barry Strock and Michael Roland retained their board seats for another three-year term. Rhonda Rosenheck was voted into the three-year term held for 19 years by Danny Nerenberg, who chose to pass the baton. We are grateful for Danny's board service all of those years, and look forward to many more years of his wise, humor-filled, and passionate participation as a member.
As many of you know, our synagogue was fortunate to receive funding for the past ten years from the Sidney & Beatrice Albert Foundation, which allowed us to make many necessary building upgrades. We replaced the kitchen flooring, added new cabinetry, and put in new bathroom fixtures. The back entrance is handicapped-accessible with a beautiful new ramp. The front steps are safer with new hand rails. We have a new furnace and a second refrigerator. I am proud of how beautiful our shul looks with one exception: the back of the building. The paint has been peeling badly and some of the wood needs repair replacement. The lack of insulation behind it is a major cause of the paint and siding failures, and a problem that must be remediated. On page 2, you'll find a building committee report by Michael Roland on the scope of this project.
We'd like to ask for your financial help to continue preserving this building. (We last ran a major fund drive 10+ years ago.) The board allocated savings so that the necessary work can be completed this spring. The more that Nassau Synagogue's members and friends donate to this preservation effort, the less we spend down our vital reserves. Please write a check for any amount you can afford to Nassau Synagogue and mail it while it's on your mind to: Nassau Synagogue, PO Box 670, Nassau, NY 12123. Write "building fund" to ensure that the donation is applied to this project. Then, put Sunday, October 21st on your family's and friends' calendar now for an exciting concert in the new theater of Lucky Strike Entertainment at the Crossgates Mall (See below).
The board and I thank you in advance for all your help! Have a wonderful summer.
B'shalom,
Pam Tatar
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Long-time member Kate Lozier recently re-located to North Carolina. Through the years, Kate contributed so much to our shul. She served on the board, attended Shabbat services, and actively participated in programs and events. Kate blew her beautiful shofar on the high holidays and donated many pieces of her beautiful artwork to beautify the shul.
Kate founded the shul's successful "Mitzvah Knitters" group, one of many lasting contributions she made as chair of the Tikkun Olam (Repair the World) Committee.
Kate, we already miss you, and we wish you all the best on your new venture in life!
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BUILDING COMMITTE
E REPORT
By Michael Roland
The Building Committee (Michael and Tom Seamon) along with the shul board, have planned a series of building improvements for this season.
The major work includes:
1. Repainting the entire building exterior;
2. Blowing insulation into the kitchen/bathroom-addition walls;
3. Replacing the front railing to match the new front step railings; and
4. Staining the rear ramp and steps.
Lesser improvements include:
5. Placing additional insulation over the kitchen ceiling;
6. Insulating the upper floor windows;
7. Moving perennials from alongside the driveway and widening the driveway; and
8. Enhancing the front landscaping, including the front slope.
This work will be performed by sub-contractors and member-volunteers. We will be reaching out to the congregation for help as the season progresses.
The Board authorized $15,000 for this work. To minimize the drain on our reserves, we ask for donations (see page 1). We have already received pledges of $2,000. We are hopeful that Nassau Synagogue's members/friends will come through to help preserve and improve our historic home.
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Greetings from Rehovot, Israel, By Lynn Gross
Spring here was glorious, especially for David and me. April 17th, our grandson was born to our daughter and son-in-law, Marissa and Aaron. He was named Boaz Netanel, Boaz after my mother, Ruth Rosen, z"l, and Netanel after my father, Theodore Rosen, z"l. I was deeply moved by this honor.
While we all know the Biblical love connection between Ruth and Boaz, many do not recall Boaz's special qualities. Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman of Bar Ilan University spoke on "In the Mind of Boaz" at the Berman Orthodox Synagogue in Rehovot. He described Boaz, the foreman of the wheat fields, as a man who was sensitive to Ruth's needs. Ruth was a Moabite who chose to live in an environment entirely alien to the one in which she grew up. Boaz ensured that Ruth was provided for financially, and that she was socially accepted, unharassed, by the Hebrew men and women amongst whom she was now living. Boaz was fastidiously appropriate with Ruth in their personal relation-ship. He was a mensch, with character traits we hope our own Boaz will grow to emulate.
Like Boaz, my mother took pride in her work, in her case, as a US Vitamin Corp executive. A pillar of the Jewish community, she was the executive secretary of both the Schenectady Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Center. She worked in the same capacity until her early 80s for the San Diego Jewish Community Center and Hebrew Home for the Aged. The word Boaz means "inner strength." My mother demonstrated her inner strength in caring for her mother, father, sister, and husband while providing my brother and me with total emotional and financial support.
In Greek, Theodore means "gift from God"; in Hebrew, Netanel means the same. Theodore (Ted) Rosen was given the gift of intellect. A graduate of Columbia University in history, he was always an avid reader of historical and contem-porary, non-fiction, political literature. Ted Rosen was beloved in the community as a result of his successful tenure as the Executive Director of the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home in Albany. He continued working part time as a social worker and volunteer for the San Diego Jewish Family Services and Hebrew Home for the Aged until he died in 1999.
My father had an incredible sense of humor. He was often invited to entertain at organizational dinners, where he would entertain with a selection from the hundreds of jokes he had collected over the years.
We pray that Boaz Netanel Yarm will follow in both my parents' footsteps throughout his life's journey in Eretz YIsrael.
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100+ Years of Community History
The Nassau Synagogue can still offer its 100th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet for sale.
This treasure tells the unique history of the Jewish farmers and settlers in Schodack & Nassau and of this synagogue through documented research, photo-graphs, and personal narratives. It preserves the past and celebrates the still-living history of the last remaining congregation and synagogue of three that once served the Jewish community of rural, southern Rensselaer County.
To order, send check or money order to the Nassau Synagogue and mail it to: Nassau Synagogue, PO Box 670, Nassau, NY, 12123.
Be sure to include with your order the name and address where we are to send each copy.
____________________________________________________________________________
Centennial Book Order Form:
Please print:
Name: ___________________________________
Address: _________________________________
City: ____________________________
State: ___________ Zip Code: _______________
Member (maximum 1 book/member unit) $15.00
Non-member /additional member copies $20.00
Total number of books ordered: _________
Total Amt of Check/Money Order*: _________
*Price includes shipping within the contiguous 48 states.
Please make your check payable to the Nassau Synagogue and send to PO Box 670, Nassau, NY 12123
Regretfully, online orders such as through PayPal are not being accepted at this time.
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Membership / Donation Form
The Nassau Synagogue tradition is that one need not be a member to attend Shabbat services or to participate in our events and programs. We do not sell seats for the High Holidays, nor do we auction aliyot. How have we been able to do this over the years and still keep membership dues so very low? It is through your continued support that is essential to keeping us strong. The Nassau Synagogue relies almost exclusively on the contributions of its supporters and on our membership dues. So please, help us with a donation, and/or consider becoming a member.
NAME________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________
PHONE NO._______________________E-MAIL______________________________
MEMBERSHIP
Please note that at least one adult member of a membership unit must be Jewish by matrilineal descent.
Family Membership $300
Individual Membership $200
________I would like to renew membership in the Nassau Synagogue
________I would like to join the Nassau Synagogue
_____ If you are joining or renewing your synagogue membership, please check here if you would like your personal information included in the Membership directory.
By checking here you are agreeing to the terms and conditions as follows: that the main purpose of the directory is to make personal contact with other members to encourage social interactions, acknowledgement of celebrations and other meaningful events, and to encourage the promotion of shul related activities among those on the list. The list may not be shared with anyone who is not on the list, given to any organization without the prior consent of the Board, or used to promote political ideas or platforms.
CONTRIBUTIONS
To the General Fund: $_______________ To the Hebrew School: $ _____________
To the Kiddush Fund: $ ______________
Or contact Barbara Neiman, 477-9580 or
[email protected]
, if you would like to sponsor a full Shabbat Kiddush
In Honor of_____________________________________________________________
In Memory of___________________________________________________________
PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO THE NASSAU SYNAGOGUE and mail with a printout of this form to:
PO Box 670, Nassau, New York 12123.
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Sponsor Shabbat Kiddush
Have someone to honor or an event to celebrate/commemorate?
Yahrzeit? Birthday? Anniversary?
Sponsor Shabbat Kiddush
Schedule a date to prepare and/or sponsor Kiddush at the Nassau Synagogue.
It's a wonderful way to have the community share the memories with you.
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By Barbara Neiman
On April 24th, my sister, Liz, and I flew to Tel Aviv, to begin a 10-day tour of Israel. We first stayed at Jerusalem's Mount Zion Hotel, where my first order of business was connect with the shul's contact and arrange for her to pick up IDF hats made by our "Mitzvah Knitters."
We went to the open-air Mahane Yehuda Marketplace (simply called the shuk by locals), the largest market in Jerusalem and one of the most famous in the Middle East. Rugelach at the Marzipan Bakery were the best we'd ever tasted!! Off to Hadassah Hospital to view and learn about the breathtaking Chagall Windows. We walked along the Haas Promenade for a panoramic view of the old and new cities, visited the Western Wall, walked under the city through the Kotel (Western Wall) tunnels, and through narrow, stone Jewish Quarter alleyways.
We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Israel Museum, Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center (powerfully moving), and Mount Herzl National Memorial. Many of Israel's past leaders and those who served in the military are buried on Mt. Herzl. We stopped at the grave of Michael Levin of Philadelphia, who made Aliyah alone in 2002 to serve in the IDF. In 2006, Michael, aged 22, was killed in the Second Lebanon War. In 2009, a group of former "lone soldiers" (soldiers whose families do not live in Israel) created the Lone Soldier Center to honor his memory and to care for current lone soldiers, who come on their own to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
Next stop, Judean Desert. Masada was awe-inspiring. Bathing in the Dead Sea at Kalia Beach was a salty delight. Then we went north to stay at a pastoral hotel on the grounds of Kfar Blum Kibbutz, in the Upper Galilee's Hula Valley. We visited ancient Safed (Tzfat), historic center of Jewish mysticism and a lively artists' colony. From Tiberias we cruised the Sea of Galilee. We journeyed to the Golan Heights, visiting former Syrian bunkers at the summit of Har Ben-Tal, where we enjoyed seeing the snow-capped Syrian Mountains. We also toured the Pelter Winery and Katzrin Olive Oil Factory.
On day 8, we traveled west, toward the Mediter-ranean and Haifa, stopping to plant a tree in the JNF Tzomet Golani Forest. We lunched with members of Israel's Druze community at a village in the Carmel Mountains, and in Caesaria, toured Herod's Roman amphitheater and the ruins of his palace.
Down the coast in Rehovot, we toured the Ayalon Institute, a munitions factory hidden beneath a kibbutz to fool the British in the 1940s. Its history demonstrates the ingenious resourcefulness of pioneers determined to create a Jewish state. We toured Yafo (Jaffa), one of the oldest cities in the world, just outside of Tel Aviv. We learned about the creation of the modern State of Israel at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv - very meaningful for us both.
Touring Tel Aviv by foot on our last programmed day, we saw David Ben Gurion's house, a café that was the first site of many terrorist-suicide bombings, and Rabin Memorial Square. Our guide was knowledgeable; we hung on every word, and especially enjoyed his personal anecdotes of life in Israel.
The next day, Liz (a former physical therapist) and I traveled back to Jerusalem to stay with the family of a soldier she treated in 1973, when volunteering during the Yom Kippur War. I was fortunate to meet with David and Lynn Gross for lunch. It was wonderful to see them again and to hear that they are planning a short visit to our area this summer.
What a journey it was!
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- David Fruchter & Amy Supraner on their marriage
- Bill and Joyce Panitch on the birth of their first grandchild, Miles Harvey White, born April 8th. Parents are Alyssa & Brian White. He was named after "M" for Max, maternal great grandpa, and "Harvey" for paternal grandpa.
- David and Lynn Gross on the birth of their second grandchild, Boaz Netanel Yarm. Parents are Marissa & Aaron Yarm. He was named after Lynn's mother, Ruth Rosen, z"l, and Lynn's father, Theodore Rosen, z"l.
- Margo & Izzy Singer on daughter Sarah's graduation from Macalester College.
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To all who are in need of healing, including
Please send names of those needing healing to Pamela Tater at
[email protected]. Editor's note: In Jewish tradition healing can mean many things; it is possible even with lasting ailments.
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Condolences
To the family of Muriel Rosen Frank. Muriel resided in Slingerlands but grew up on a farm in East Nassau. On occasion Muriel participated in events and generously supported the Nassau Synagogue. She attended the Jewish Farmer's reunion last year.
To Max Jacobs, Rhonda Rosenheck, and Max's entire family on the passing of Zoe Arianna Jacobs, who blessed others with the gift of life through organ donation.
May HaMakom comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
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Yahrzeits
June 14 - August 11, 2018 (5778)
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We have recorded all of the names and dates on our memorial plaques in the synagogue. We will include upcoming yahrzeits from this list in the relevant newsletters/weekly announcements.
Convert from the Hebrew to the Gregorian calendar at: https://www.Hebcal.com/converter/ or refer to a perpetual Jewish calendar.
It is traditional to mark yahrzeits with a charitable donation and/or to sponsor Shabbat Kiddush in their memory. Please also let us know when you plan to say Mourner's Kaddish, so we can call for a minyan to assist you in honoring the memory of your loved one.
Tammuz
Isaac Epstein 6
Maurice Murray Weisman 9
Philip Waldman 10
Isadore Miller 11
Florence Kahn Foise 13
Clement Paris 14
Samuel Zweig 18
Glenn David Schips 20
Anna Prussack 22
Elsie Epstein 23
William Ashkenas 25
Morris Leserowitz 25
Nathan Goldman 26
Max Goldman 29
Av
Helen Weingrod Levine 2
Nathaniel David Baum 6
Dora Brothers 8
Samuel Smith 8
Mollie Lewis Berch 20
Rita Foise Wyman 20
Leslie Goldman 26
David Daniel Schwartz 26
David Prussack 27
Brice Weisman 27
Harry Honig 29
Jeanne Eisenman Strock 29
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MANY THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS
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Larry & Barbara Eckhaus in memory of Ann Smith
Charles & Nancy Noland
Sidney Markowitz - Kiddush Fund in memory of Isadore and Mary Paley
Rita Bergman in memory of Muriel Frank
The Sarachan Family in memory of our sister, Ann Beth Deily
Irving & Myrna Paris in memory of Clement Paris
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Laurie Kimmelstiel 914-260-8860
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Rhonda Rosenheck 917-656-4835
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Norma Phillips 518-758-7549
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Nassau Synagogue and Community Center
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12 Albany Avenue,
Nassau, NY 12123
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