Chai Lines
International Northeast Region
Women's League
for Conservative Judaism
Networking to Engage, Enrich and Empower
Conservative Jewish Women
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August 3, 2018 Volume 3, Issue 5
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SAVE THE DATE FOR INR CONFERENCE 2019
INR SPRING CONFERENCE
June 2 & 3
at Beth David, Toronto
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FROM OUR TORAH FUND VICE PRESIDENT--Marilyn Cohne
I am Marilyn Cohen (fifth from the left), and I'm the Torah Fund Vice President for our International Northeast Region (INR) of Women's League. It is my pleasure to serve in this position for a second term and I am here to help your own sisterhoods with any and all Torah Fund programs or administrative tasks you might have.
I have just returned from a wonderful family trip to Israel which my husband, Bob and I, organized in honour of our 50th anniversary We took our two daughters, their husbands and 5 grandchildren on this amazing adventure.
Our group called "Cohen & Kinder" toured the country concentrating on how kids would see and understand it. We experienced the Golan Heights, riding off the beaten track on jeeps, and seeing how vulnerable the Israeli settlements were before we had control of the Golan.
We rode on camels to "Abraham's Tent" where "Abraham" introduced us to "Eliezer," "Sarah," and his whole way of life as we looked out onto the hills surrounding, sitting in his tent eating figs, dates, nuts, and drinking tea.
We toured on top of Masada, and then hiked up Ein Gedi and swam in the upper pool. We dunked in the Dead Sea and covered ourselves with mineral rich mud that actually healed my aching knee.
We rode the "rapids" on the Jordan River and biked around the Hula Lake Nature Reserve. Then for an added bonus, we made chocolates at a chocolate factory and made cheese at a goat farm.
But most significant of all was our stay in Jerusalem where we visited the Kotel, took a tour of the excavations under the Wall, and even trekked through Hezekiah's underground water tunnel. Most meaningful to me was walking to shul on Friday night and Shabbat morning. Everyone you pass, whether secular or religious, wished us "Shabbat Shalom." I was proud to wear my Torah Fund Pin whenever I went to a shul even if it wasn't a Masorti (Conservative)
Kehillah. The words of
Ma Tovu on it epitomized my feelings of my whole trip. How very good it was to be in our own land, seeing our own people at work and at play, and watching my own children and grandchildren soak up the culture, history, and joy of living in the land of Israel. Wherever I went, I counted my blessings surrounded by my family and my people.
But now we have to look to the future--in Hebrew "
ATID." What a meaningful theme Women's League and Torah Fund have chosen for this year! As Women's League enters its second century, Torah Fund begins its 77th year, and the State of Israel enters its 71st year, we look forward with anticipation and optimism to our future, together with you, our sisterhood members and supporters of Torah Fund.
The 5779 Torah Fund pin shows the word "
ATID" surrounded by a stylized Magen David. It represents our wish for a distinctly Jewish future, for ourselves as individuals, our families, and our communities.
I don't have to remind you we are just around the corner from Rosh Hashanah which begins the evening of September 9th. Please be aware of deadlines for your synagogue bulletins so you can include the updated information about the 5779 Torah Fund Campaign. Promote the pin, the theme, cards, etc. Encourage your members to wear the new pin during
Yamim Tovim. As your Sisterhoods plan for the upcoming year, don't forget to include the Torah Fund Campaign.
I hope to soon be in touch with all Torah Fund chairs in our region. I want to get a chance to know you, learn about how the Torah Fund Campaign is publicized within your sisterhood and discuss how you hope to promote the campaign, benefactors, upcoming events, etc.
Remember, all campaign materials, flyers, order forms, etc. can be accessed online through the JTSA website
www.jtsa.edu/torahfund and then click on "Find Torah Fund Resources."
If you have any questions, concerns, great promotion ideas, or just want to
shmooz, please feel free to contact me by calling my cell phone- 416 518 1860 or email:
marilyncohen@bell.net .
Wishing you all a successful Torah Fund campaign, and a Happy New Year as well!
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A GUEST EDITORIAL--Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, WLCJ Executive Director
Carpe Diem - Seize the Day! Many of us say it, but do we really mean it? Do we really do everything we plan to do each day? Do we really live each day as if it were our last? So often I have thought, "Today is the day I am really not going to eat any sugar, and I will exercise more." And I eat whatever I want and rationalize that I can just walk a little more or drink more water. Or, I tell myself, "Today is the day I will do what I had put off from yesterday, or last week," and then it just gets put back on the to-do list, once again, like it did the week before.
During Rabbinical School, I had planned to spend a year in Israel, and I put off many of my other travel plans. I thought, "In the spring I will go down south, and travel to Eilat, and spend Shabbat in various places throughout Israel, and explore the places I have never traveled to before." And then my year turned into nine months, and I went back to New York, and never got to do all the traveling I wanted to do. And I had hoped that, after learning that lesson, after putting things off, I would not suffer those types of regrets again. But yes, woulda, coulda, shoulda...
The 22nd of Av is my father's Yahrzeit, a time that finds me, no matter what my other plans are this week. When it was evident that he was at the end of his life and that his condition was deteriorating, I made sure that my children took time to give their Poppy a kiss and tell him that they loved him. As best he could, he gave them his signature 18 kisses, and they said their goodbyes when he was cognizant enough to know they were there. I told him I loved him, and I shared many thoughts with him. The morning he passed, my sister and I davened Shacharit with him, and it was one of the most powerful morning prayer services we had ever prayed together. We even read part of the weekly Torah Portion that week, Parashat Re'eh, since it was Monday morning. My sister and I remarked how ironic it was that our father, a neuro-ophthalmologist, was spending his last days of life during the week we read the Torah reading called Re'eh, which comes from the root lirot, "to see." Soon after we finished our morning prayers, my father breathed his final breath. I have to say that my only regret is that he is not physically here to see his beautiful six grandchildren, although I know that, spiritually, he is with us.
Each day, I may not get to everything on my "To-Do List," and sugar is still part of my daily consumption, although less so. One thing I have learned, though, is to express my appreciation to others, and say, "I love you" to my family and to my many friends, who are like family to me. I am not without an occasional lapse, though, and I still need to remind myself to seize that moment when it avails itself. Even today, I heard about a dear woman in my life, not a member of my family, but a great influence on me, nevertheless, who is very sick. I had always said to myself, "I will call her tomorrow," and then I did not. And now, I am not sure if there will be a tomorrow for that call. I just hope she knows how much I have loved, appreciated, and admired her.
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FROM THE EDITOR, LOIS SILVERMAN
How many things do we do because they have always been done that way? Often we continue to do what we have been doing for years and don't know why. But could we be doing things better?
Change is part of life. By living everyday and growing older day by day, we change, we learn, and we experience new things. Certainly some changes are not good, but some change is necessary.
Who would have believed twenty years ago that our region (then branch) newsletters would be sent via the internet? I didn't, but when the change came, I embraced the new procedure since the advantages outweighed the drawbacks of sending our newsletters through the world wide web.
We must not do things by rote. We must be open to change while keeping and understanding the reasons for our traditions.
Below is one of my favorite stories which illustrates what can happen by doing things by rote.
LOIS
A young Jewish mother is preparing a Brisket one Friday for Shabbat dinner. Her daughter watches with interest as the mother slices off the ends of the Brisket before placing it in the roasting pan. The young girl asks her mother why she did this.
The mother pauses for a moment and then says, "You know, I'm not sure. This is the way I always saw my mother make a brisket. Let's call Grandma and ask her."
So, she phones her mother and asks why they always slice the ends off the brisket before roasting.
The Grandmother thinks for a moment and then says, "You know, I'm not sure why, this is the way I always saw MY mother make a brisket."
Now the two women are very curious, so they pay a visit to the great-grandmother in the nursing home.
"You know when we make a brisket," they explain, "we always slice off the ends before roasting. Why is that?"
"I don't know why YOU do it," says the old woman, "but I never had a pan that was large enough!"--Author Unknown
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FROM WOMEN'S LEAGUE FOR
CONSERVATIVE
JUDAISM
Networking to engage,
enrich and empower
Conservative Jewish Women
If All the Seas Were Ink Is Our Next WL Reads Pick!
T
he next Women's League Reads book club pick is
If All the Seas Were Ink
, by Ilana Kurshan. Join us for a live author interview on Sunday, October 7, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.
Women's League Reads is a
member-only benefit program that you may subscribe to by contacting
Lois Silverman, Internet Services Chair, at
lsilverman@wlcj.org, with your email address, sisterhood name/town/state or individual member information, and thereby join the online group for book news and discussions.
Ms. Kurshan fought her way back from a deep malaise that enveloped her upon the failure of a brief marriage, soon after she had made
Aliyah. To find her way, first, she ran through the Jerusalem streets, then she plunged into
Daf Yomi, "the world's largest book club."
In this memoir, she candidly, and with warmth, takes the reader on her journey through her battles with an eating disorder, misogyny, and that depressive period. She finds structure and meaning through the "daily page" of Talmud, as it is read worldwide over a seven-year span. In those pages, she finds gems of wisdom to illuminate her path upwards from gloom to light. The reader is gently guided to see the sages' stories and lessons along with her as being quite relevant to modern life. She also works in relevant poetry and prose from the greats of English Literature that mirrors Talmudic truths, along with her insights about how best to live life deliberately as a fully-realized woman, one day at a time. Her efforts are rewarded - at last, she establishes a rounded, fulfilling life and loving family.
Ms. Kurshan, a graduate of Harvard University and Cambridge University, has translated books of Jewish interest and worked as a publishers' agent internationally. She is the Book Reviews Editor for Lilith Magazine, and writes for many other publications.
If All the Seas Were Ink was published in 2017 by St. Martin's Press. 320 pages-hardcover, e-reader version, and in some libraries. The memoir has won the Jewish Book Council's prestigious 2018 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and other awards.
Learn more about how you can join Women's League Reads, and listen to previous author conversations
Study With Scholars: Rabbi Sherre Hirsch
Join Women's League for the exclusive opportunity to learn from prominent Jewish thinkers and educators! These sessions will be held via Zoom online conference calls and are open only to Women's League members. Register for the first
Study With Scholars session on
Wednesday, September 5, at 8 p.m., Eastern time with
Thresholds and
We Plan, God Laughs author
Rabbi Sherre Hirsch
by clicking here.
Call-in information will be e-mailed to all registered participants.
Any Questions? Contact:
Sherre Hirsch
is a rabbi, author, and spirituality expert. She currently serves full-time as the Senior Rabbinic Scholar for Hillel International. Her mission is to empower individuals to become more in tune with their well-being, way of life, and ability to impact the world. After eight years in the pulpit, Hirsch left Sinai Temple, Los Angeles's largest and oldest conservative synagogue. Since then, she has published with Random House We Plan, God Laughs: What to Do When Life Hits You Over the Head, a top 100 in all books, and Thresholds: How to Thrive Through Life's Transitions to Live Fearlessly and Regret-Free - a Vanity Fair "Best Type." Hirsch served as spirituality expert for The Today Show and numerous other media outlets. She counsels private clients, speaks nationwide at engagements for corporate and religious organizations, and teaches classes across a variety of themes. Sherre served as the Spirituality Consultant and Lecturer at Canyon Ranch for 15 years and currently organizes lectures and retreats around the world. Learn more at www.sherrehirsch.com .
WWOT - Weekly Words of Torah: Parashat Eikev
To inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women
By Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, Executive Director, Women's League For Conservative Judaism
This week's Torah Reading,
Parashat Eikev, includes the second paragraph of the
Shema, the section which begins, "
V'haya Em Shamoah,"
Deuteronomy, chapter 11, verses 13 through 21. This paragraph states that, if one observes the commandments, and follows God's rules, then God will bring rain at the proper time, and the grain will grow.
This paragraph is somewhat problematic, because the theology it teaches can be very difficult to comprehend. Can the modern-day person truly believe that, if we follow the letter of God's Torah exactly, all good will come to us - and, if something bad happens, then it is because we strayed from God's commandments?
We all know people for whom we have prayed, and they were not healed. We have seen righteous people who have suffered some misfortune, despite their godliness. And we have seen others, who do not seem to be walking the path of righteousness, but nothing bad ever seems to happen to them. How do we account for this?
When we are in a relationship with God, we have a dimension - God - to lean on for support. I believe that God is always there to hear our prayers, to be in dialogue with us - even if we do not always like the answers we receive. And, perhaps, when we try, and pray, and do, and still things do not turn out how we want, this dimension continues in the community we have that supports us and prays alongside us. For those of us in WLCJ and in our sisterhoods, during those difficult moments, we see God within the eyes of each Sisterhood sister we have surrounding us - and that is our rain in its due season. From this rain, our "grain" will grow.
WWOT, Weekly Words of Torah will be a brief paragraph prepared weekly by our new Executive Director, Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, presented in our "This Week @ Women's League." WWOT will provide meaningful thoughts related to the Weekly Torah Portion, an event on the Calendar, a Prayer, or something of Jewish interest, to inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women. If you have any particular interest in future topics, or want to send Rabbi Wolintz-Fields an email, you can contact her at
ewolintz-fields@wlcj.org. Read previous Weekly Words of Torah here.
This Year's Torah Fund Pin!
Atid means "future" in Hebrew. As Women's League for Conservative Judaism enters its second century, Torah Fund begins its 77th year, and the State of Israel enters its 71st year. We look forward with joy to our future together with you, our sisterhood members and supporters of Torah Fund.
When the classical rabbinic texts speak of the future using the word atid, it usually appears in the phrase "le'atid lavo," which means "in the future to come." By this, they mean either the day when the Messiah will come, or olam haba, the afterlife. Israelis, referring to this life, are known to say with optimism, "Yesh atid," which means "there is a future!"
How do you envision your future? Your personal future, the future of your family, the future of your community, of the United States, Canada, and Israel? When you dream of a bright future, is it in the next world or this one? The seminaries of the Conservative/Masorti movement, which we support through Torah Fund, are doing the great work that helps us navigate our future together, as one people. Our sisterhoods provide the social and educational networks - the extended family - that help us go forward into our future, as Jewish women, with confidence.
The 5779 Torah Fund pin envelopes the Hebrew word for "future" (atid) with a stylized Magen David. It represents our wish for a distinctly Jewish future, for ourselves as individuals, for our families, and our communities.
Order this year's Torah Fund pin here!
Support Women's League with Amazon Prime!
WLCJ is on
Amazon Prim
e!
Initiate your shopping session through our website, and Amazon will rebate a percentage of the sale back to Women's League. Click on the Amazon logo on the top left corner of our webpage (near the Facebook icon), and click on the Amazon shopping cart on the next page - then repeat the process for each individual purchase.
Thank You for Your Support!
The following have contributed to Women's League and its many initiatives. We encourage you to
join this growing list.
ALL contributions are welcome.
Masorti WL Days of Study in Israel
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HELP IS AVAILABLE ON THE WLCJ WEBSITE.
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