CHAI LINES
The Newsletter of the International Northeast Region
June 7, 2024 - 1 Sivan 5784
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Welcome!
As members of a WLCJ affiliated sisterhood or as a WLCJ Individual Member, you also belong to the International Northeast Region (INR) of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and we are happy to be able to send you our bi-weekly region newsletter we call “Chai Lines”! Please read and enjoy!
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From our Region President
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Dear Friends,
This week we are reading from Parshat Bamidbar which is also the name of the fourth book of the Torah, known in Hebrew as Bamidbar, or “in the desert”. In English it is knows as Numbers, because it begins with God commanding Moses to take a census of the people. We read “Seu et rosh kol adat B’nai Yisrael” or “lift up the heads”, that is to say “count” or “take a census of” the entire Israelite community. Today we would say “take a head count” of the population.
This census is ostensibly for military purposes. The Israelites have left Mount Sinai and are making their way through the desert toward the “Promised Land” and there are bound to be military engagements along the way. Moses needs to count the people in order to understand their capacity to meet those engagements. God requires the census to be by the “clans or their ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head. You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms” (Num 1:2-3). This act of counting is more than just keeping track of numbers. By recording each individual’s name and family, it emphasizes their unique identity and worth. It shows that each person is important and valued.
We learn key lessons from this account:
1. Everyone Matters: By naming each person the Torah shows that every individual is unique and valuable. It teaches us that every person has worth and should be recognized.
2. Individual and Community Needs: The census highlights that while each person is unique, they are also part of a larger community. Not only their names are recorded but also their lineage or tribe. This teaches us to value our own individuality while also contributing to the community.
3. Leadership Role: Moses and Aaron are responsible for the census, showing that leaders must ensure that everyone is seen and valued. This responsibility extends to society, reminding us to look out for each other.
In our modern world, people can often feel like just another number. The lesson from Bamidbar encourages us to recognize and include each person, making sure everyone’s voice is heard. The census also reminds us to protect and support everyone in our community, especially those who might be overlooked or marginalized. This means standing up for fairness and ensuring everyone has what they need.
To summarize, the census in Parshat Bamidbar is about more than just counting people. It teaches us to value every individual and work together as a community. This lesson is crucial today as we strive to build a society where everyone is recognized, included and cared for.
Shabbat Shalom,
and
I’d like to wish you all a Chag Shavuot Sameach!
Marilyn
Marilyn Cohen
Region President
INRPresident21@wlcj.org
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REGION MATTERS:
Our INR Conference in Toronto is still a pleasant memory in our minds. We have put together a photo gallery of those two days on our region website
https://www.wlcjregion.org/northeast/ Please enjoy the pictures. If you have any additional great photos of Conference that you would like to contribute, please send them to me @ INRPresident21@wlcj.org to vet, and I will have Lois Silverman, our Webmaster, add them to our collection. Todah Rabah!
Please consider supporting the following interesting Women’s League programs:
WL Sustainability Helping to Ensure a Healthy World: The Mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’olam program on June 9th. See the flyer below to register.
The next WL Leadership Institute will take place from July 28-30 in Saratoga, California. See below to register.
See below to order WLCJ 5785 Calendar Diaries which are again available in pocket size and planner size. Orders will ship within 1-3 business days once the order and payment are received.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marilyn
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From our Torah Fund Vice President | |
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Announcing
Our 2023-2024
Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh
Campaign
All the people of Israel are responsible for one another
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We, in the International Northeast Region of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, have proven ourselves to be strong supporters of Torah Fund. Torah Fund, in turn, supports the students at the five institutions of higher learning of the Conservative/Masorti movement. Spring has brought forth graduations with new rabbis and cantors entering the job market. Your generosity made that possible.
For last year’s campaign the women of INR donated $27,458 to the general campaign and $86 to the special Spaces campaign. That represents generosity. This year we have far exceeded that amount. Our goal for our region was $23,718. But we reached that goal a while ago. With the rest of June to close the fiscal year we have already sent $39,472 to the general campaign. Even omitting a very generous memorial gift to one of our affiliates, we are well over our goal. We have, thus far, contributed $321 to the special spaces campaign. We have exemplified Kol Yisrael averim zeh b’zeh – all Israel is responsible for one another.
The international Torah Fund goal for our General Campaign for this campaign year ending June 30, 2024 is to raise $1.1 million. As of May 20, the general campaign had reached the total of $1,032.21. Oh, so close. Do you think the goal will be reached? I think it will be surpassed.
The Creating New Spaces campaign has a goal of $200,000. As of May 20, $29,279 has been donated this year toward that goal. The total contributed is $172,566 leaving a balance of $27,434 to reach the $200,000. Again, so close! If you’ve already made your gift for this year, please consider an additional amount to Spaces.
For both the general campaign and the special campaign, all gifts, be they large or small, are significant, make a difference, and are appreciated. Thank you. Merci. Todah Rabah.
The fiscal year closes on June 30th. The Torah Fund office asks that all checks be submitted by June 15th for processing to be credited for this year’s campaign. Any later checks will be reflected on the 2024-2025 reports. Online donations may be made up to the very last minute as they are instantly processed, and tax receipts issued.
Torah Fund cards are available for all occasions. There are new e-cards on the Torah Fund website, and their purchase is credited to your own affiliate and applied toward goals. To purchase Torah Fund ecards, please use these links:
US page: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/
Canadian page: https://torahfundecards.jtsa.edu/canadian/
Remember to use the link from your country, not the recipient’s country.
Paper cards are available from your local Torah Fund Chair.
Please note that it is from that Canadian link that you can make additional donations to Torah Fund, after first purchasing an ecard.
In the United States, to make a donation, the link is: Donate to Torah Fund (jtsa.edu)
Consider joining the Torah Fund Legacy Society. Four years ago, the Torah Fund Legacy Society was established for donors to make planned gifts to benefit Torah Fund. There are different options. You simply designate Torah Fund as a beneficiary of a financial instrument such as an IRA, life insurance policy, pension fund, bank certificate of deposit, or Israel Bond. Or you can make a bequest from your will or trust. Please choose the best method in consultation with your financial advisor or attorney. There is no minimum or maximum donation amount required, nor do you need to state a dollar value unless you would like to do so. Once you have designated a legacy gift for Torah Fund, we ask you complete the Bequest Confirmation Form. You then receive a beautiful charm with the word ‘Atid’ (‘Future’) in Hebrew, to affix to your Torah Fund pin. Please let me know when you would like to be contacted by a Torah Fund Legacy representative. Thank you for helping ensure the future of the Jewish people through your long-term support of Torah Fund.
Am Yisrael Chai, the nation of Israel lives: Such an important statement in today’s world. When we begin the new general campaign on July 1, those words will be the campaign theme. Donations of $180 will be given a gift of a pin bearing those words. The pin was designed by an Israeli artist. The pin is being manufactured in Israel. Start saving your dollars so you will be able to receive the new pin, to wear it proudly to proclaim your support of Israel.
L’Shalom,
Linda Boxer
INR Torah Fund VP
INRTorahFund@gmail.com
P.S. I’ve been in NYC for President’s Training for WLCJ and just before hearing from Chancellor Schwartz we learned that Torah Fund reached its goal! It’s very exciting news. Thank you, merci, Todah Rabah to all who contributed to the 2023/24 campaign. Because of your generosity, students have financial aid to help them achieve their goals.
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Masorti Women's Study Day | |
Friday
June 21, 2024
2:45am - 8:30am ET
1:45am - 7:30am CT
Thurs. June 20, 11:45pm - Fri. June 21, 5:30am PT
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Engendering Social Change and Equality: History, Halakhah, Song, Poetry & Prayer in memory of Prof. Alice Shalvi z”l
All times listed are Israel Daylight Time (IDT)
09:45 – Registration
10:30-11:00 – Shacharit and Dvar
Torah: Rabbi Diana Villa and Chazanit Shulamit Resnik (Zoom & In Person)
Classes
11:10-12:10 – First Session (some Via Zoom & In-Person)
12:20-13:20 – Second Session (some Via Zoom & In-Person)
13-30-14:00 – Lunch
14:10-15:10 – Third Session (some Via Zoom & In-Person)
15:20-15:30 – Personal Tribute to Prof. Alice Shalvi z”l – Rabbi Irina Gritsevksaya (Zoom & In-Person)
For more information, click here.
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Sunday-Tuesday
July 28-30, 2024
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Women’s League for Conservative Judaism – committed to developing skilled and dedicated leaders – invites you to attend an inspiring Leadership Institute that will expand your skills as a leader and enhance your knowledge as a Jewish woman while strengthening your connection to Women’s League, your Sisterhood Affiliate, your community, and Klal Yisrael.
Join International President Julia Loeb at our next LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE on JULY 28-30, 2024 AT CONGREGATION BETH DAVID SISTERHOOD,
SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE?
A multi-day workshop that will enhance your personal style of communication with interactive exercises and role-playing. Discover tips and techniques for using language that motivates, stimulates and encourages women to volunteer.
An opportunity to network with other women, master goal setting, time management and team building. Learn the secret of keeping yourself challenged.
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WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT THAN OTHER LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS?
The Leadership Institute’s unique format allows participants to build a personal program to expand Jewish knowledge and leadership skills.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
$299 includes materials, programming, and meals. This fee does not include hotel or transportation to Congregation Beth David Sisterhood or transportation to Saratoga, CA.
Registration for the hotel starts at $139 + tax per night double occupancy. Click here to reserve a room in the Leadership Institute room block at the Marriott Aloft Cupertino.
The learning and sense of community created during the Institute comes both from the shared experiences during the formal program and the unstructured time together at the hotel. To facilitate this, we strongly urge local participants to stay with the rest of the group at the hotel.
Your Region, Sisterhood Affiliate or your Rabbi might have scholarship money to help cover these costs. Don’t forget to ask!
Register by JUNE 24! Space is limited and fills up quickly.
The leadership Institute team,
Margie Miller
Debbie Lempert
Illene Rubin
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Debbi Lempert
dlempert@wlcj.org or
Margie Miller
mmiller@wlcj.org
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Sunday
June 9, 2024
7:00pm ET
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Heddy Belman
hbelman@wlcj.org
WL Sustainability Co-Chair
Corinne Hammerschlag
corinneh@rogers.com
WL Sustainability Co-Chair
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WLCJ has partnered with the Conservative Movement's one-of-a-kind webinar series, Weeks of Learning and Doing.
The Masorti Environmental Sustainability Initiative (MESI) of the Conservative Movement is leading a Weeks of Learning and Doing webinar series, taking place throughout the Omer (between Pesach and Shavuot). The webinar content is inspired by the concepts of Head (learning), Heart (spirituality), and Hand (action/advocacy). The series offers topics about the environment, Judaism and spirituality, food, greening your synagogue, and climate change that educate, inspire, and motivate. This series is free and open to all WLCJ members.
You may register to one or all of the webinar series. The one WLCJ is administering as a joint program is June 9th: Helping to Ensure a Healthy World: The Mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’olam. Join Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, co-author of a Teshuvah (Jewish legal responsum) called "On the Mitzvah of Sustainability” to explore *the* foundational mitzvah for caring for the world - though most of us have never heard about it. Learn about what the mitzvah says about how should a Jew live and what Jewish Law (Halakhah) teaches and requires in the critical matter of environmental sustainability.
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Rabbi Margie Cella
mcella@wlcj.org
WLCJ Educator
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For the past 80-plus years, the Torah Fund Campaign of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, the dedicated philanthropy of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, has been supporting scholarships and programs in the worldwide Conservative/Masorti institutes of higher Jewish learning, The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, Schechter Institutes of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem,
Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, and Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam.
The 2023-2024 / 5784 Torah Fund General Campaign is Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh, All the people of Israel are responsible for one another. Arevut, responsibility, will be visible on our new, silver heart-shaped charm which can be worn as a pendant or pin.
The WWOT, the Weekly Words of Torah, each week through the end of June 2024, will delve into the idea of arevut, responsibility.
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Parashat Bamidbar—Numbers 1:1-4:20 - June 8, 2024
Two years after the deliverance from Egypt, the nation is getting ready to leave Mt. Sinai to begin the journey to Canaan. In preparation for the departure, God commands Moses to take a census of the fighting men from age 20 and up, from all the tribes except the Levites, who were appointed to assist the priests in administering the service of the tabernacle. Since they had not participated in the sin of the golden calf, God designated them to take the place of the firstborn. They, too, were counted, though they were separated from the rest of the nation. The Levites were charged with caring for the tabernacle and its furnishings, dismantling, carrying, and reassembling it each time the nation moved to a new place.
In anticipation of the journey, God also gave specific instructions for the formation in which the 12 tribes would travel through the wilderness: 3 each on the east, south, west, and north sides of the camp, with the Levites and the tabernacle in the middle.
This parashah, at first glance, seems to contain a lot of tedious details. But even here there is a message. When the census was taken, a chieftain was appointed from each tribe to record by name every member of his tribe: as each man came forward, he identified himself for the count. In God’s accounting, every individual was known by name—he was not just a number. We must do the same. When you meet someone, ask—and then use—their name. Get to know them. They are as important in God’s eyes as you are. Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Ba’Zeh — All the people of Israel are responsible for one another.
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Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday
9:00 am PT
10:00 am MT
11:00 am CT
12:00 pm ET
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A virtual service for our WLCJ Sisters to recite Mishaberach, the Prayer for Healing, recite the Psalm of the Day, study and recite Kaddish together.
No Makom - Weds. June 12
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/630830287
Meeting ID: 630 830 287
Password: 875936
| A virtual background is available for Makom B'Yachad! DOWNLOAD HERE | Want to sing, teach, help with technology, and more during Daily Psalm Study, and Kaddish? |
Let Us Pray - composed by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields
VIEW PRAYER
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Pre-Order WLCJ 5785 Calendar Diaries | |
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Calendar Diaries are available for pre-orders. All orders will ship on or after the first week of June.
Pocket Size = $11.00
Planner Size = $26.00
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Women’s League's got talent — Join the communications team! Positions need to be filled! | |
Are you fluent in Zoom? Can you spotlight a speaker? Start the recording? Set up breakout rooms? Do you know how to let people in from the waiting room? Or would you like to learn more about how to use Zoom’s moderating features? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions we need you! | |
WLCJ is looking for volunteers to help run Zoom for our Region conferences and Women's League programs. Hours vary and are flexible. Please reach out to Esta Lichtenstein with any questions or to sign up.
Questions?
Esta Z. Lichtenstein
WL Communications Chair
elichtenstein@wlcj.org
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Plan Ahead
1. Pink Shabbat - Pick a Shabbat service or maybe even Kabalat Shabbat service to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. Invite a guest to speak from Sharsheret, maybe a breast cancer survivor in your own sisterhood and/or GYN doctor who speaks about Breast cancer.
2. Dinner or Lunch in the Sukkah - Because of the time of the year it a great time to have a Paid-Up Membership. Offer this event for free or very little, enticing women to pay their dues early.
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Have a guest speaker or just make it a social event allowing women who have not made the blessing for sitting in the succah, and over the lulav and etrog to do so.
3. Holidays package for college students at your synagogue - Packages to college students are always appreciated. It makes them feel they’re not forgotten by their shul. Chanukah, Purim and
Pesach are the holidays easiest to do during the year.
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Jill Tomar
jill.tomar@gmail.com
WL Programming Co-Chair
Toby Maser
tmaser@wlcj.org
WL Programming Co-Chair
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For more great programs and information from Women's League... click here for this week's WL Week!
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INR of Women's League for Conservative Judaism | | | | |