NEWS & EVENTS

March 12, 2024

"IF NOT US, WHO? IF NOT NOW, WHEN?"

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SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE WEEKLY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

This week we are continuing to collect LAUNDRY DETERGENT. On Friday night or any time you're at temple, please bring LAUNDRY DETERGENT this week!

DAY OF SERVICE & CELEBRATION!

SUNDAY, APRIL 14

AT NOON

Featuring sandwich-making for the NOAH Homeless Project

Plus: Guest Speakers & Info from Local Service Organizations!

👉👉 To participate in the lunch-making assembly line, you must RSVP to Audrey Pleasant:

Email: audreypleasant@gmail.com

Text: 313.478.6414.

Needed Donations for the Event: Medium-sized to large cardboard boxes to pack lunch materials for project!

✦ THIS FRIDAY...

March 15, 7PM

▶︎ GUEST SPEAKER: PROF. MIKE WHITTY

LOVE TRUMPS HATE

Dr. Whitty will reflect upon how we can all bring humanism, positive psychology, and the spirit of love for life into this political cycle.

Dr. Whitty has given many talks on the extremism of the religious right, theocracy, and the world-wide rise of fundamentalism, extremism, Christian Nationalism, and political polarization.

THANK YOU TO GAIL WHITTY!

For sponsoring this week's Oneg Shabbat in honor of her husband (and this week's speaker) Prof. Mike Whitty!

IN PERSON OR ON YOUTUBE:

Click HERE or on the graphic for YouTube (live & recorded).

✦ PURIM!!

Friday, March 22, 6PM

NOTE TIME!

This year's Purim Party brings the Oscars and Purim together for a screening of

The hysterical story of what happens when a touching film called "Home for Purim" becomes the subject of enormous awards-show hype!

Starring:

Bob Balaban

Jennifer Coolidge

Christopher Guest

Eugene Levy

Jane Lynch

Michael McKean

Catherine O'Hara

Parker Posey

Harry Shearer

Fred Willard

Written by:

Eugene Levy & Christopher Guest

Directed by:

Christopher Guest

Join us for Hamantaschen & Popcorn on the Red Carpet for this World (CHJ) Premiere!

Funny costumes & hats encouraged. Salute your favorite STAR!

WATCH THE MOVIE TRAILER!

✦ March 29, 7PM

▶︎ GUEST SPEAKER: TERRI O'BRIEN

HOW WE CAN ALL HELP TO "GET OUT THE VOTE!"

We will be joined by Terri O'Brien, a passionate and experienced voter registration activist with a thorough knowledge of Michigan's current registration and voting requirements.

Terri will talk about important changes that have been enacted to make registration and voting easier and more well-protected. As part of a 2023 voter registration pilot program in Southfield and Pontiac Terri helped test effective voter engagement campaigns. With the new election laws in Michigan now taking full effect, she will share practical info to help all of us reach Michigan's 600,000 eligible, but unregistered voters, a large number of them in our area.

Terri's suggestions will form the basis of our own Social Justice Committee's considerations to help get out the vote.

✦ April 5, 7PM

▶︎ RABBI FALICK WILL SPEAK

HAVE YOU EVER CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT?

Rabbi Falick will talk about the significance to Humanism about keeping an open mind, even about things that are very significant. He'll share some personal examples and then open up the program to anyone who wants to share their own examples of times they've changed their minds about something important.

HOLD THE DATE!

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 6:30PM

NEXT LUNCH BUNCH

WED., MARCH 27, 12:30PM

with a discussion led by Dr. Bruce Hillenberg

Please bring your own lunch ...

coffee and tea service will be available.

DAYTIMERS' OUTING!

SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2PM

To see the raucous Broadway hit show....

AT THE

FARMINGTON PLAYERS'

BARN THEATER

32332 W. 12 Mile Rd., Farmington Hills, MI

Tickets: $25.00

TICKETS ARE VERY LIMITED SO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW!

Contact Suzanne Paul:

(suzanne@crpaul.com or 248.421.8174)

for questions or to RSVP.

NEW!

CANASTA CLASS

& PLAY!

Begins Thurs., March 21

Noon - 2PM

Lessons for novices and games for seasoned players!

For more information, please contact Debbie Lopas at 248.331.3480 / debbylopas@gmail.com or Cathy Radner at ‭248.229.8954‬ / radner210@gmail.com.

ALL SESSIONS AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT THIS LINK

THE WORLD'S OLDEST HATRED

WITH RABBI FALICK

CONTINUES:

MONDAYS AT 1PM

ON ZOOM:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89316945686

DAY OF SERVICE & CELEBRATION

Sunday, April 14 at Noon

SEE TOP OF NEWSLETTER FOR DETAILS!

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING

Sat., April 6, 11:30AM to 12:30PM

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82417709465

ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND!

COLLECTIONS UNDERWAY

Help us to clothe and supply those in need...

...with toiletries, new or gently used winter clothing, toys, children's books and other needs, household items. Drop off in lobby.

If donating items from other categories or larger items, please first contact Audrey Pleasant (audreypleasant@gmail.com) for more information.

KNIT / CROCHET / CRAFT FOR A CAUSE

Next Session:

Sat. March 23, 1-3PM

All welcome; no skill needed. Will include a beginners' lesson in crocheting!

An array of recent warm hats knitted by our group!

Contact Audrey Pleasant: audreypleasant@gmail.com to be on the reminder list.

JEWS FOR A SECULAR DEMOCRACY

Fighting for Religious Freedom: How to Speak to and Actually be HEARD by Your Legislators

Want to talk to your state legislators and make an impact, but don’t know where to start? Brace yourself for a whirlwind of empowerment!

In this condensed and dynamic webinar, founder of Secular Strategies and Director of Strategy for JFASD, Sarah Levin, will unleash a burst of expertise on effective communication and engagement with elected state legislators.

IMPORTANT LINKS

YAHRZEITS

Click here to see upcoming Yahrzeit Memorials.

TRIBUTES

Click here to see recent Tribute Gifts.

WELL WISHES

BEST WISHES FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY TO:

Jim Walker, Kate Ben-Ami

Please inform us if you know that someone is ill or in need.

"IF NOT US, WHO?

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?"

With this week's commentary, I want to turn our attention to another of the new posters on our lobby wall. This one reads, "If not us, who? If not now, when?"

You are undoubtedly familiar with the sentiment. Our version is a sort of half-paraphrase, half-quote from Rabbi Hillel the Elder, who lived during the first century B.C.E We know it from the Mishnah's Pirkei Avot, usually translated as Chapters of the Father. It is one of the most ancient collections of rabbinical lore and wisdom.

What Rabbi Hillel really said was, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?"

It's not uncommon for Hillel's wisdom to be partially or wrongly quoted by a really wide number of people, Jews and non-Jews alike. (I'll leave it to you to decide what we've done to it.) A few years ago Ivanka Trump tweeted out a version that said, "If not me, who? If not now, when?" Ivanka may be a member of the tribe (i.e., Jewish) but she did Rabbi Hillel wrong when she attributed it to Emma Watson. (Who actually did say it in a U.N. speech.) I recently discovered that the exact version on our poster appeared in the 2012 Republican National Committee platform, attributed to Ronald Reagan. There is, however, no evidence that the Gipper ever said it.

The reason people like this quote is because it speaks to them in different ways.

The final words—the part that, it seems, is never misquoted—suggest the urgency of getting things done. No matter the point one is trying to make, there is power behind Hillel's pithy reminder that for many things in life there really is no time like the present. The Hebrew is poetic. If you've been to Spinoza or a Friday night service recently, you've probably sung along with the words, "V'im lo achshav eimatai" in the famous tune by legendary Jewish composer Debbie Friedman, of blessed memory.

It's the first part that usually gets paraphrased. Hillel's original questions, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?" pose the classical dilemma of balancing selflessness and self-interest. For some Jews, they also suggest a conundrum presented by modernity, the question of how to weigh Jewish particularism against universalism. Humanistic Judaism tends to lean toward the universalistic, but reality often draws us back into a more particularistic—even parochial—stance.

Whatever the many levels of meaning that we might find in this quote, the emphasis on human empowerment that tempts us to paraphrase the first question really speaks to our humanism. It reminds us that whatever it is that needs doing, whether for ourselves or for others, only we humans can get the job done.

On our poster, the answer to the first question, "If not us, who?" should be very clear. There is only us.

As for the second question, "If not now, when?" Well, it really does answer itself, doesn't it?

COMMUNITY NEWS

MAZEL TOV TO

ABBY SACKIN

... and to her entire family on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah!

Abby's celebration took place on March 2. She spoke eloquently about one of the first modern feminists, Enlightenment Philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, a woman who dared to challenge the misogyny of her time.

JEWISH COMMUNITY NEWS

www.MaccabiDetroit.com

Get in the 2024 Detroit JCC Maccabi Games® as an athlete, volunteer, host family, or spectator!

🔸 BE AN ATHLETE: For the seventh time in history, one of the world’s largest Jewish sporting events is happening here. And Detroit-area Jewish teens are invited to join our delegation.

🔸 BE A VOLUNTEER: Looking for responsible volunteers ages 18+ to help plan and facilitate the Games. Whether you can spare an hour or month, we have a place for you!

🔸 BE A HOST FAMILY: The hospitality offered by local Jewish families makes visiting athletes feel at home. Host families, including family members of all ages, have the chance to experience the Games personally by enjoying a special relationship with these athletes that often lasts years beyond the event.

🔸 BE A SPECTATOR: Join the fun and cheer on athletes as they compete throughout the week of the Games. All spectators must register to attend competitions.

The JCC Maccabi Games® is the largest Jewish youth event in the world. From July 28 to August 2, 2024, our Detroit community will welcome 1,200 Jewish teens from across the globe. The Games involve thousands of members from our community, including 400 host families, 1,000 volunteers and 200 local athletes.