Weekly E-News 5785

July 4 - July 10, 2025

This week's kiddush is sponsored by Elise & Victor Shernoff to celebrate Victor's birthday & to welcome Rabbi Cantor & his family to AA!

Menu

Herb Stuffed Salmon

Potato Salad

Greek Salad

Cheese Platter

Fruit Platter

Desserts

Kiddush prepared by Elise Shernoff, Beth Bosman, & Sheryl Kreh.



Thank you!



Birthdays

July 4th - Barry Schlafstein, Victor Shernoff

July 5th - Amy Rosenthal

July 7th - Lauren Fins, David Rosenthal

July 8th - Melvin Haysman

July 9th Ellen Goldberg, Stephen Greenberg

Anniversaries

July 8th - Janet & Bob Benjamin, Harriet & Paul Kulbersh

In Person Service Times

Tuesday: 7:30 AM

Wednesday: 8:00 AM

Friday: 8:00 AM

Shabbat: 9:45 AM

Rabbi's Message

With the destruction of the Second Temple, responsibility for connection with The Creator shifted from the priesthood to the individual. For the last two millennia each individual Jew has been responsible for their own personal prayers.

In Biblical times, prayer was easy: when Miriam fell ill, Moses simply said, “O God, pray heal her!” (Numbers 12:13); when Abraham’s servant needed help selecting a suitable spouse for Isaac he said:

O ETERNAL One, God of my master Abraham, grant me good fortune this day, and deal graciously with my master Abraham: Here I stand by the spring as the daughters of the townspeople come out to draw water; let the maiden to whom I say, ‘Please, lower your jar that I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’—let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master.

Looking at the prayer experience in the modern American synagogue, something of a disconnect has developed between the purpose of prayer (communicating with the Divine) and what is written in our prayerbooks: after two hours on a Saturday morning, sometimes I am not quite sure what I have been saying, and I suspect that I might not be alone.

For the following four weeks, I have volunteered to lead the beginning part of the service, the part that comes before the formal call to prayer. These are the prayers that are most personal:

·        Thank you God, for enabling me to wake up this morning

·        Thank you God, for a body that seems to be in working order

·        Thank you God, for a soul

·        Help me to be true to my purpose: to love my neighbor as myself

As we continue throughout the service it will be my goal to try to make what is written on the page more relevant in the moment. At the end of the month I would look forward to your thoughts on the experience.



May The One who formed us, who breathed into us the ability to speak and to think, inspire us to find our authentic voices to express ourselves in prayer.



Rabbi Cantor

This Shabbat

2025 | 5785

Hukkat

Candle Lighting: 8:16 pm

Havdalah 9:16 pm

Torah reading (Triennial) 20:22-22:1

Etz Hayim pp 887 - 893

Haftarah: Judges 11:1 - 11:32

Etz Hayim pp 910 - 913

Service Leader Sign Up

Are you interested in leading services? Reading Torah? You can sign up on our service leader sign up sheet!

Yahrzeits 

Thursday night/Friday, July 4 – 8 Tammuz

Pat McGhie - father of Scott McGhie

Rebecca Rubnitz - grandmother of Melvin Haysman

Friday night/Saturday, July 5 – 9 Tammuz

Harvey Walcoff - father of Andrew Walcoff

Saturday night/Sunday, July 6 – 10 Tammuz

Rose Neidich - grandmother of Linda Hoffman

Shaari Waldman - mother of Libby Waldman-Strugatch

Elaine Weinberger - mother of Matthew Weinberger

Monday night/Tuesday, July 8 – 12 Tammuz

Carnegia Haysman - mother of Arthur Haysman

Tuesday night/Wednesday, July 9 – 13 Tammuz

Dina Appel - grandmother of Diana Levison

Ida Brown - grandmother of Arnold Tillinger & Marcus Seligman

Glenn Narducci - father of Annette Friedman

Anna Strugatch - mother of Bruce Strugatch

Wednesday night/Thursday, July 10 – 14 Tammuz

Alex Goldberg - father of Arnold Goldberg,

grandfather of Jana Feiler

Philip Konter - father of Michael Konter

Barbara Rutstein - sister of Stephen Sacks

Thursday night/Friday, July 11 – 15 Tammuz

Sybil Barnett - grandmother of Nanci Aronstein

& Jonathan Javetz

Flora Shernoff - grandmother of Victor Shernoff

Commemoration of the Yahrzeit begins the evening of the first noted date.

Community News

Save the date and get your tickets while you can for Konter-Weiland Entertainment Night with the acclaimed Las Vegas illusionist and mentalist Shimshi! 



Shimshi is currently the resident illusionist for the Wynn Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steve Wynn says: “Shimshi is the best” and personally welcomed him to Wynn | Encore since 2009. In 2012, Mr. Wynn had Shimshi created an illusion act for his 100 million dollar featured show, Le Rêve. Over 15 Million people have witnessed Shimshi‘s magic when he appeared on NBC’s hit T.V. show, America’s Got Talent. Shimshi has performed his corporate show for many of the top Fortune 500 companies. He was also privileged to perform at many of Hollywood’s biggest celebrity events. Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Robert De Niro, Steven Spielberg, Ryan Seacrest, Usher and Tiger Woods are just a few of the stars that have witnessed Shimshi‘s magic, as well as The Prince of Saudi Arabia and President Clinton.

Tickets are available at the JEA and are FREE for all JEA members and/ or contributors of $50 or more to the SJF Annual Campaign. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and must be reserved in person. Doors open at 7:00pm for a dessert reception and open bar. The show begins at 7:30pm.

This event is made possible by the Lawrence Konter & Bertram Weiland Jewish Cultural Arts Fund established by Marcy and Jerry Konter at the Jewish Community Foundation of Savannah. The purpose of this fund is to “create opportunities that bring all segments of the Savannah Jewish community together for top quality cultural events.”

Congregation Agudath Achim

Donor Dues

Benefactor

$9,999 - $5000

Melvyn & Eleanor Galin

Leader

$3,599 - $1,800

Stephen & Annette Friedman

Patron

$1,799 - $720

Aaron & Dayle Levy

Allan & Arlene Ratner

Sherwin & Sara Robin

Sol & Stephanie Zerden

Chai Member

$719 - $360

Michelle & Matthew Allan

Gerald Caplan

Linda & Joe Cooper

AM Goldkrand

Paul & Harriet Kulbersh

Stacy & Jeffrey Lasky

Andrew & Leslie Walcoff

Michael & Linda Zoller



Supporters

 $359 - $100 

Lynn Berkowitz

Adam & Lauren Fins

Ted & Adelle Geffen

Doug & Lisa Goldstein

Seth Grenald

David & Gale Hirsh

Jonathan & Tova Javetz

Harriet Karlin

Michael & Suzanne Konter

Larry & Betsy Lehner

Steve & Linda Sacks

Victor & Elise Shernoff

Judy Todtfeld

Thanks to these donors for going above and beyond by participating in the Donor Dues Program this 2024-2025 fiscal year.

If you would like to participate by making this additional commitment, please contact the office. 

Rabbi David Cantor

Morgan McGhie, President

Motti Locker, Executive Director

Congregation Agudath Achim | office@agudath-achim.com | 912-352-4737 | www.agudath-achim.com