Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island E-Letter
June 25, 2021
22 Tamus 5781
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A TORAH MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI
The second half of this week’s Torah portion, Balak, contains the beautifully descriptive poetic verse “Mah Tovu Ohalekha Yaacov, Mishkenotekha Yisrael”. You might recognize this as the prayer that we say as we enter the synagogue every morning, or that is customarily recited at the start of the Friday evening service. It translates as: “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings (sanctuaries) O Israel”.
The set-up for this piece of Text is some explosive Torah. The (non-Jewish) prophet, Balaam is hired by King Balak to curse the Israelites. God is unhappy with this plan and literally places words of praise in the prophet’s mouth. (Earlier in the Text God places words in the mouth of a donkey in a biblical precursor to Mr. Ed.).
The narrative is compelling, but I’d like to take a brief look at the six words that are prominently featured in our liturgy.
The prophet is looking over the entire Israelite encampment as he utters his words. He could be referring to separate structures when he refers to ohalekha (tents) and the mishkenotekha (dwellings/sanctuaries). But, he also could be seeing these two attributes, “tents” and “sanctuaries”, in each home he sees.
An Ohel is a tent; it is a dwelling place for people. A mishkan is a tabernacle; it is a place for the divine presence. What the prophet saw in his vision was that each tent was not just a home for eating, sleeping, and privacy. Each home was additionally a sanctuary and holy. Each residence, even though it was temporary and was erected as a place to fulfill human needs, served the dual purpose of bringing God and holiness into the living space.
A home is not just living space. It is not just a physical structure with a collection of furniture and the things we acquire. A home is also a sanctuary in every meaning of that term.
Our JCC is not just a religious space. It is not just a sanctuary. It is also our home. It is a place where we welcome people. It is a place where we spend time together as a larger family. We pray here. We laugh here. We eat here. We sing here. We learn here. We deepen our connections to each other and our tradition here. And we console each other here.
A home and a sanctuary. A sanctuary and a home. This is the message to us.
During the pandemic, via Zoom and other electronic media, we turned our homes into sanctuaries. Today, we are keeping those sanctuaries, but we are also beginning to return to our physical sanctuary. Once we finally leave this Covid mess fully behind us (may it happen as quickly as possible), we will find ourselves in a position to spread participation between people in the sanctuary aka the “Room”, and people in their homes who are joining us electronically, aka in the “Zoom”. A “physical tent” and “electronic tents”. There will be wholeness and holiness in our collective home and sanctuary.
A home as a sanctuary and a sanctuary as a home. What a great time it is to be a Jewish person seeking connection.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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SHABBAT SHALOM
Candle Lighting Time
Friday evening,
June 25, 2021
8:10 PM
So. Ocean County
JOIN US FOR SERVICES
Friday evening
June 25, 2021
6:00 PM
Shabbat in Beach
on 24th Street
Spray Beach
and
on Zoom
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Saturday morning
June 26, 2021
Services
9:00 AM
In Person Services
and
Zoom Service
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Torah Reading
Parashat Balak
Numbers 22:2-25:9
Here is the Parshah
Haftorah
Micah 5:6 - 6:8
Here is the Haftorah
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Saturday evening
9:00 PM
Havdallah
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services
Sunday - Thursday
Ma'ariv Service
7:30 PM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
Sunday - Friday
Shacharit Service
8:15 AM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to
Join Zoom Services:
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IN PERSON ATTENDEES MUST REGISTER FOR
SHABBAT SERVICES
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Additional instructions to register to attend services
Once you are on the registration form...
Press Sign up Button for the service you wish to attend
Click on Submit and Sign Up
Fill out the form
You will receive a confirmation from our webmaster, Fred Poritsky
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GUIDELINES FOR INDOOR SERVICES
- All attendees 18 years old and over must be fully vaccinated.
- Attendees must show proof of vaccination (card or on their phone).
- Masks must be worn indoors.
- Children under 18 who are not vaccinated need to wear a mask.
- Singing and participating in service is allowed.
- Social distancing of 6 feet will be observed.
Please use the front door Saturday morning to enter. The handicapped door is also available.
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.THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
MONDAY 6/28
10:00 AM Chumash Class
THURSDAY 7/1
11:00 AM Torah Study with the Rabbi
2:00 PM Beginning Hebrew with Ira
HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR THE ACTIVITIES FOR THIS WEEK
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THE WOMEN'S AUXILIARY
OF THE
JCC OF LBI
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WAX Beach and Brown Bag Event - June 24, 2021 |
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Speaker and activist Nina Estebrook of Zero Waste led us through a comprehensive tutorial on reducing plastic and waste in our environment. The 68th Street Pavilion with its
Eastern Breeze was the perfect setting for the event.
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JCC WOMENS AUXILIARY: BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION
THE 4th WEDNESDAY, AT 4:00 PM
Discussion Leader to be Determined
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human - just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined - but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.
Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele - not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.
Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the 20th century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart - especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their children attend to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.
But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: first, Rami’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. Rami and Bassam had been raised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace—and with their one small act, start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict.
This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too.
With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personal recollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to begin another—one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers’ moving story at its heart.
ORDER YOUR BOOK NOW AND START READING TODAY!
Click here to borrow book from the Ocean County Library.
If you can lead our book discussion on Wednesday, July 28th or Wednesday, August 25th, please email dschweig19@gmail.com
A Zoom link will be sent shortly before the event.
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and click on the honey link.
Order online by July 7th
to avoid extra shipping fees.
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Sunday, July 11 at 7:00 PM - Summer Evening Program I
Wednesday, July 14 - JCC Bazaar opening at 8:00 AM
Thursday evening, July 22 at 7:00 - Eric Mandel - "What Is Next After The Gaza War?"
Mah jongg every Tuesday at 12:30 PM beginning 7/6
Poker Nite Sunday night at 7:00 PM beginning 7/18
SEE DETAILS BELOW
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Summer Evening Music Programs. Then click on the entertainer's name to find out more about them.
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THIS WEEK'S YAHRZEITS
The following names will be read at Friday night services.
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Albert Luterman
Kenneth Wolfe
Jon Elayne Churgin
Sanford Cohen*
Herman Kaufman
David Resnek
Lillian Zalkind*
Beatrice Bader
Isaac Cohen
Frances Ganek Gendel
Reuben Gerber*
Dorothy Gordon
Marlene Kaufman*
Irwin J. Pripstein*
Betty Goldstein
Gertrude Gondelman
Irving Hirschfeld
Harry Jacobson*
David Srager
Jacob Weiner
Henry Zlotkin*
Tracy Gardner
Ada Weiner Lepene*
Esther London
Joseph Notterman
Tillie Balbresky
Theodore Freedland
Simon Greenberg
Dorothy Petchenik
Milton Weinstein*
In this Zoom era, we have been able to have a daily minyan at 8:15 AM and at 7:30 PM and on Shabbat. We encourage you to join us on the day of your loved one’s yahrzeit. In the morning, the service is about ½ hour beginning at 8:15 and in the evening at 7:30 until about 7:45. Rabbi will be glad to say the traditional El Malei Rachamim prayer for you, which is recited during the funeral, going up to the grave of the departed, Yizkor remembrance day and other occasions on which the memory of the dead is recalled. You are also welcome to share with the minyan some special memories of your loved one.
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STACEY & LARRY GARB
on the graduation of their son
Brady
from Montville High School.
Brady will be attending the
University of Delaware in the Fall.
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Welcome
Asher Adi Scheer
grandson of
Dr. Max & Pamela Scheer
son of
Rabbi Andrew & Avital Scheer
Rabbi Scheer is the Chief Rabbi of Japan
Correction: Stuart and Elyse Pepose's granddaughter is Jennifer Mikala Davidson
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...SHARE YOUR NEWS
AND PICTURES
CONTACT:
CARING COMMITTEE
This committee acts as a support system for congregation members facing illness and other personal situations that need to be addressed.
Please contact Chairperson,
Debby Schweighardt
if you are in need of assistance or if you know of a JCC member
that needs our help.
973-634-5349
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Alan Kanis
June 26
Martin Hochman
June 27
Norma Hochman
June 27
Nathan Fink
June 28
Vicki Baty
June 29
Joshua Zalkind
June 29
Michael Lippman
June 30
Richard Schey
July 2
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GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
PAVERS
Inscribe a paver at the front entrance to the building
8" X 4", 8" X 8" and 12" X 12"
SEE UPDATED ORDER FORM:
Become a permanent part of the JCC landscape.
Purchase a personalized paving stone
in honor of your family or in memory of a loved one.
Please contact Diane Hoffman
with your order or with any questions:
PRAYER BOOKS
There are still High Holiday Prayer Books and Chumashim available to be purchased in memory or honor of someone or something. The cost of a Prayer Book is $72 each and $120 for an Eitz Hayim Chumash. The donation includes an affirmation sticker in the book and an acknowledgement letter or letters.
TRIBUTES
SEND ONE OF OUR TRIBUTES IN HONOR OR IN MEMORY OF
TREE OF LIFE
Add a leaf (leaves) to our beautiful Tree of Life located in the Social Hall. See the order form here: TREE OF LIFE
Bronze Leaf $90
Silver Leaf $126
Gold :Leaf $180
ENDOWMENT FUND - NEW INFORMATION !!!!!!!
Herb and Selma z”l Shapiro established the first individual Endowment Fund in memory of his father, as part of the JCC’s Endowment Fund portfolio. Judith z”l & Donald Pripstein joined the Shapiros and established The Pripstein Family Endowment Fund.
As recently reported, Don Pripstein pledged another $50,000 to establish The Judith & Donald Pripstein Endowment Fund.
As a result of Don’s letter, another member has stepped forward to establish an individual Fund. He pledged $50,000 and made a substantial first payment. The announcement of this will take place as soon as all the naming particulars are decided.
A donation of at least $50,000 to the endowment fund will allow the donor to name one of the funds as the donor wishes. All such named funds will be joined together to be part of the Endowment Fund portfolio.
Endowment funds are necessary to ensure the continuation and well being of our congregation. All members are encouraged to help this important effort by contributing to this portfolio, whether as a specific named individual fund, or as a general donation. The donation can be spread over one, two, or three years, and can be paid via check, donation of appreciated stock, wills, or from the RMD of your IRA or 401K account. Your gift to the fund can be sent to the JCC Office. Please mark your check accordingly.
YAHRZEIT PLAQUES
Space is available for memorial plaques on the yahrzeit boards in the Sanctuary.
Here is the order form:
KOL HAKAVOD
Please consider being a part of this campaign to supplement the clergy needs of our congregation. This is a separate, voluntary commitment and is additional to our low annual dues obligation. HERE IS THE LINK TO BRING UP THE DONATION FORM KOL HAKAVOD
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JCC FUNDS
Your gift to the JCC support our Clergy, our Congregation and the Community.
ENDOWMENT FUND
This fund was established to assure the continuity of our JCC, and our ability to continue providing a full-service congregation to serve the Jewish people of the area. While a donation of any amount is encouraged, a donation of at least $50,000 allows the donor to name a special or specific Endowment Fund in memory or honor of a specific person event, or family.
GENERAL FUND
Donations to this fund are not earmarked but placed in the general administrative account. Donations to this fund can be in honor or memory of a person, event, or family.
KOL HAKAVOD FUND
Donations to this campaign supplement the clergy needs of our congregation.
RABBI’S DISCRETIONARY FUND
This fund, managed by the rabbi, allows donors to enable the rabbi to do the work of tzedakah in response to the needs of individuals, organizations and the community.
ZENA & JERRY JAY KIDDISH FUND
The Zena and Jerry Jay Kiddush Fund was established in memory of Rabbi Jay's parents to help provide funds for our Saturday morning kiddushes.
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THE JCC OF LBI IS LOCATED AT
2411 Long Beach Boulevard (24th Street)
Spray Beach, NJ 08008
Telephone: 609-492-4090 FAX: 609-492-7550
THE OFFICE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED.
PLEASE USE THE PHONE OR EMAIL WITH REQUESTS.
OUR OFFICE STAFF WILL BE CHECKING IN REGULARLY.
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Staff:
Leslie Dinkfelt, Office Manager
Mary Beth Krieger, Staff Member
Kitchen Manager: Susan Berube
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LATEST
BULLETIN:
PRAYER BOOK:
WEB SITE:
PAVERS:
TREE OF LIFE
YAHRZEIT PLAQUE FORM:
KOL HAKAVOD DONATION FORM
KOL HAKAVOD
TRIBUTES:
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Rabbi Michael S. Jay
Michael Babst, President
E-mail Editor: Rose Valentine
Graphics by
Irene Babst
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