Dear Friends--
Join us for connection, learning, prayer and more this week and beyond! As always, links to join all our events, upcoming minyanim, Shabbat services and more can be found on OZ's website here.
Lunch & Learn with Howard Ball to be rescheduled
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Lunch & Learn planned for Thursday, February 18 with Howard Ball will be rescheduled. Date and time to be announced.

Please join us for his two part series in March. As we discuss his recent article 'American History's Most Despicable Lie: Racial Superiority and its Costs', Tuesdays, March 9 and 16 at 7:30pm. Additional information about this series can be found on our website here. More information forthcoming.
Family Shabbat
Join OZ for Family Shabbat this Friday, February 19 at 5:15pm!

This is a great way for kids in grades 1-7 and their families to mark the end of the week and welcome shabbat with community, songs, blessings and time to schmooze.

Hope to see you there! Click here to join via Zoom.
Kabbalat Shabbat
Join Rabbi Amy and Cantor Steve on Friday, February 19 at 6:00pm for a joyful, instrumental Friday Night service, via zoom. Click here to join.
Shabbat Morning Services & Torah Study
Join Rabbi Amy and Cantor Steve on Saturday, February 20 at 9:15am for Shabbat Morning Services, followed by Torah Study with Rabbi Amy, via Zoom.

Hadassah Shabbat Across the Region
Please join Hadassah, Beth Jacob Synagogue, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Ruach Hamaqom and Temple Sinai for a Havdalah Service on Saturday, February 20th at 6:00pm for Hadassah's Shabbat Across the Region event for Shabbat Zachor.

Shabbat Zachor is the Shabbat immediately preceding the festival of Purim. Hadassah Shabbat Services are often held on this Shabbat because of this connection with Purim. When Henrietta Szold, along with the women of her study group, formed the first chapter of Hadassah in February 1912, they took the Hebrew name of Queen Esther. 
Singing Community
The Singing Community has returned for 2021 and will meet every other Sunday evening beginning February 21, 5:00-6:00pm. Please join us for an opportunity to gather, to learn, and to share the songs and niggunim (wordless melodies) that help to touch our souls and lift our spirits. Click here to join via Zoom.

Future dates include March 7 and 21.
"A Night on Broadway" with Cantor Steve
Join Cantor Steve for "A Night on Broadway" on Tuesday, February 23, 7:30-8:45pm

This final session will include discussion of the history and evolution of the Broadway musical as well as the Jewish influences of several leading composers and lyricists.

Here's the remaining line up:
  • Tuesday February 23: Broadway Musicals of the 21st Century

Each class will also feature performances by Cantor Steve!
Family Purim Celebration
Join us Thursday, February 25, 5:30-6:15, for a Family Purim Celebration! This event is great for kids of all ages and will include singing, a costume show and tell, an example of Megillah chanting and a Purim spiel featuring The Cat in the Hat!

Megillah Reading and Purim Spiel
Join us for our traditional Megillah reading and Purim Spiel, Thursday, February 25 at 7:00pm! Come to listen to the chanting of Megillat Esther and stay for a comical spiel written by Sergey Shpaner!

Purim CAR-nival!
Join us for OZ’s first Purim CAR-nival! That’s right, a Purim Carnival from your car! Drive through OZ’s parking lot on Sunday, February 28 beginning at 9:45am! Dress up your car and your family and join us for games (played from your car window!), music, a car photo booth and more!

We’ll also be collecting non-perishable food items for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf as one of the mitzvot of Purim is Matanot La'evyonim, giving gifts to those less fortunate.

In order not to crowd our parking lot please attend the time slot according to your last name:
  • 9:45, last names A-C
  • 10:00, last names D-F
  • 10:15, last names G-J
  • 10:30, last names K-N
  • 10:45, last names O-R
  • 11:00, last names S-U
  • 11:15, last names V-Z
Purim with Modern Times Theater
Join us on Sunday, February 28 from 5-6pm, along with Beth Jacob Synagogue, JCOGS, Kol Ha'Emek, and PJ Library of Vermont for a fun virtual Purim event! Get your giggles ready as Mr. Punch and his wife Judy come to you live from their living room with their best shtick ever! Fun for ALL ages.

Making Prayer Real
Do you find prayer challenging? Does Hebrew or God language get in your way while trying to pray? Do you want to deepen your prayer life?  Join us for “Making Prayer Real,” a curriculum by Rabbi Mike Comins and HUC College Commons, and taught by Rabbi Amy Small, Rabbi David Edleson and Cantor Steve Zeidenberg. 

Using interviews with Jewish leaders from a variety of movements, the course gives us the opportunity to talk openly about the challenges of prayer, while at the same time learning new ways into the prayers we have always heard in synagogue. No matter if you have lots of experience with Jewish prayer, or you are new or rusty, this is a great class to engage your spiritual life in the context of Jewish prayer.  

Join in Saturday, March 6 at 6:00pm for Havdallah followed by a class preview. Click here to join. Passcode needed is 1966.

Sunday, March 14, 4:00-6:00pm, Making Prayer Real first class. Click here to join. Class will meet every other Sunday 4:00-6:00pm. Click here to join. Passcode needed is 1966.
Annual Rabbi Max B. Wall Lecture
For this year’s annual Rabbi Max B. Wall Lecture Series at Saint Michael’s College, Professor of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University, Alon Tal, will present "What is Jewish about Jewish Environmentalism?" On Monday, March 1 at 4:30 on Zoom, he will discuss “what is the Jewish approach to environmental protection and conservation?” This talk, which the speaker will deliver virtually via Zoom this year because of the pandemic, argues that Environmentalism and Judaism are essentially synonymous, and that the Jewish perspective has unique insights and approaches to the global challenges of sustainability. Relying on text study and examples from modern Israel, the talk offers an interactive exploration of how this ancient tradition perceives humans' relations with the earth and why it might be relevant for people on the planet today. Professor Tal's career has been a balance between academia and public interest advocacy. He is presently a professor of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University where he served as department chair until recently. Tal has held faculty appointments at Ben Gurion and Hebrew Universities in Israel, and was a visiting professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand and Stanford University in California. Between 1990 and 1998 he was an adjunct faculty member at Harvard University. Between 2004-2016, Tal was a member of the international board of directors of the KKL/Jewish National Fund where he served as chairman of the committee for land development that oversees forestry and land reclamation. In 2020 he was elected KKL deputy chair. Between 2010 and 2013 Tal served as chair of Israel's green party, "the Green Movement.” Professor Tal has written and edited 11 books about the environment and over a hundred academic articles. He has a law degree from Hebrew University, and a master’s and doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health in Environmental Health Policy. 

Including Jews of Color: A Conversation with Zoe Hecht and Nancy Sugarman
One in five Jewish families in the US are multiracial. How do we expand our view of the Jewish community? How do we learn to be more inclusive? Watch any of the below free presentations in February on your own then come together Thursday, March 4 at 5:00pm on Zoom, to discuss what we learned.

Options on what to watch:
  • Mondays in February choose from a series of 4 personal stories by prominent Jews of color, offered by Temple Emanu-El, Streicker Center in NYC (view as many as you like!) remaining events include -- pre-register for the series or each event; watch via zoom or Temple Emanuel web cast channel; no charge; All events start at 6:00 PM
  • Monday, February 22, Michael W. Twitty
  • “Jews of Color and Racial Injustice” a 50 minute presentation by Ilana Kaufman, director of the Jews of Color Alliance, click here to view on your own schedule.

Come together Thursday, March 4 from 5:00-6:45pm to share what you learned and our questions, via Zoom. Please register with Sarah in advance.
Making Your Own Tallit
Join us for a class on making your own Tallit with Leslie Dolin, an experienced teacher and Tallit maker on March 11 and 18, 4:00-5:30pm.

Have you ever thought about sewing a tallit for yourself or for your child’s bar/bat mitzvah? Would you like to embellish a tallit you already own? Learn a bit about the requirements and history of tallit, how to decide what size of tallit you like, how to choose fabric, and how to get started with designing your tallit. The class will emphasize making the tallit meaningful by incorporating fabrics with personal meaning such as a father’s ties, a grandmother’s crochet doilies, or a favorite t-shirt.

After this class, you will be ready to start sewing your own tallit. Please register by emailing Andie.
Beautifying your Shabbat & Holiday Table
Ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers and branches can beautify your Shabbat and holiday table even if you have no special vases or other ikebana equipment! Leslie Dolin, who has been teaching Sogetsu Ikebana for over 30 years, will show you how in this 4 week class. Everything you need for this hands-on class, except perhaps for a few flowers, should be found in your house or on a walk outside. This process will bring you calm and beauty, even in difficult times. The class is limited to 8 participants, and a supply list will be sent on registration. The sessions will be Tuesdays, April 6, 13, 20 and 27 from 10:00-11:30am.

Please email Leslie to register.
Save the dates: Who Was Mark Rothko?
Marcus Rothkovich, became Rothko, the famous painter of Latvian-Jewish descent (1903-1970). Linda Finkelstein will lead us through his journey from Russia to New York City, his color aesthetic and spiritual search. At each session we will both learn about Rothko and respond creatively with our own work (poem, drawing, etc.) 
  • Session 1: April 6, 7:30pm please have materials for drawing or writing such as sketch or drawing paper, pen/pencil, markers, or colored pencils. 
  • Session 2: April 13, 7:30pm: in this session we explore color, so please have watercolor or mixed media pad, paintbrushes thin and thick, and 3 colors of paint (watercolor or acrylic)  

Limit of 12 participants. Please by emailing Andie.