Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island E-Letter
August 6, 2021
28 Av 5781
|
|
|
HIGH HOLIDAY UPDATE
Rosh Hashanah is less than 5 weeks away. JCC members have been sent the High Holiday Ticket Reservation Form this week via email. Those folks who are not members have been notified through our Shabbat Reminder that the form is available on our website. If you need a form sent to you. please notify the synagogue office (609-492-4090 or jccoflbi@gmail.com).
The JCC leadership has provided an opportunity for worshippers to come in person to the building and/or to participate in Holy Day services via Zoom.
If you purchase an in-person ticket you will also receive a Zoom link.
We have also created a form which you can fill out on your device, save and email directly to the JCC office. Thanks to Cliff Denker for helping to transform this for your convenience. A printable form is available on the website. You can also make your payment online by going to the website. See buttons below.
While things are subject to change based on circumstances as they unfold, the board has determined that this is the best way to proceed at this time. Rest assured we will keep you posted on any changes.
|
|
 |
A TORAH MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI
Often I am asked: “If God is good, compassionate, and just, then why do bad things happen to good people?” I usually answer that we can never know the answer to that question. We simply cannot with any certainty say “why” something has happened to someone. Because of this, I have learned to suggest that it would be better to shift the query. Rather than ask “Why”, I recommend redirecting the question and asking “What” do I do now?”
I believe that this week’s Torah portion, “Re’eh”, provides a place to start in explaining the transition from “why” to “what”. In the very beginning of the Parasha, Moshe says:
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; and the curse, if you do not heed the commandments of the Lord your God, but stray from the way I am commanding you today… (Deut. 11:26 – 28).
The Rabbis have derived from this, that God gave humanity free will. It is our choice to determine whether to heed the commandments and be blessed, or to ignore them and be cursed.
This Free will gives us the ability to decide how to process the things that happen in our lives. Asking “Why did this happen?” requires us to look backward for a cause. This forces us to dwell on the past. Shifting the question to “What should I do now?” permits us to look to the future. With “Why”, the problem becomes an end point. If we ask, “What do I do now?” the problem becomes the starting point and you can work toward a solution.
The past cannot be changed, but we can influence the present and the future. Looking back can leave us feeling empty, bitter, and without control. Looking ahead can provide us with purpose, courage and self-control.
Free will permits us to decide how to actively live our lives and how to confront the issues thrust upon us. What we choose to do matters and enables us to chart our own paths.
It would appear that God’s plan for humanity is for us to do the planning.
We should always be cognizant of the unchangeable past but recognize that the future is our path to forge.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
|
|
|
|
SHABBAT SHALOM
Candle Lighting Time
Friday evening,
August 6, 2021
7:45 PM
So. Ocean County
JOIN US FOR SERVICES
|
ROSH CHODESH ELUL
Friday evening
August 6, 2021
6:00 PM
|
SHABBAT IN THE LOT
(North Parking Lot)
Bring a chair
and
on Zoom
IN CASE OF RAIN THE SERVICE WILL BE ON
ZOOM ONLY.
LOOK FOR AN EMAIL.
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to Join
Zoom Services
Saturday morning
August 7, 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 Re'eh
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
Here is the Parshah
Please respond to this email if you wish to have an aliyah this Shabbat.
Haftorah
I Samuel 20:18 - 20:42
Here is the Haftorah
|
Saturday evening
9:00 PM
Havdallah followed by
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:
|
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 one chair between each group will be observed.
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, August 11 from 8 am to 3 pm.
This month's Bazaar will be outdoors only. Please support our vendors and the JCC by stopping in to browse and buy. An island staple for 30 years, the Bazaar is one of our most important fundraisers.
|
|
.THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
MONDAY 8/9
10:00 AM Chumash Class
TUESDAY 8/10
Open Mah jongg/Canasta
12:30 - 4 PM
WEDNESDAY 8/11
August Bazaar
8:00 AM - 3 PM
THURSDAY 8/12
11:00 AM Torah Study with the Rabbi
2:00 PM Beginning Hebrew with Ira
.
HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR THE CLASSES FOR THIS WEEK
|
|
AUGUST FRIDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE
August 6 - Shabbat in the Lot
August 13 - Zoom with Chazzan Sara Geller
August 20 - Shabbat on the Beach - Loveladies
August 27 - Shabbat in the Sanctuary
YOU CAN JOIN ALL SERVICES ON ZOOM
|
|
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Our general membership meeting is scheduled for Sunday, August 15, 2021 at 10:30 AM. See Corrected Time. Members will have an opportunity to hear the accomplishments of this past year as well as plans for the year ahead.
Rob VanNaarden will give a talk prior to the meeting at 9:30 entitled 'What Would You Do?"
The meeting will be conducted in person and on Zoom.
|
|
Dear Congregants:
You are invited to attend our tenth Shabbat dinner on Friday, August 13, 2021 at 6:00 PM. Please plan on joining us for a Shabbat filled with friendship and community.
We will start our evening with the blessings and services and to make this evening even more special, Cantor Geller will be joining us. Following our services, there is a period of sharing your Shabbat dinner with family and friends in a breakout room. If you have no specific request and are open to making new friends, please respond to this email and we will arrange for you to be seated with a fabulous group of people.
Please click on this link and fill in the form by Friday, August at 13th, 3:00 PM. List your name(s), (couple(s) or single(s), telephone number and include the names of friends and family to be included in your private breakout room or send an email to: JCCOFLBIShabbatDinner.
Or join at the last minute, all are welcome!
This is our tenth celebration of this type of event, hoping to see you then!!! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rabbi Jay (973) 865-9534 or Irene B. at (856) 904-5145 for dining arrangements.
Rabbi Jay and Sheri
Michael and Irene B.
|
|
To pay for this event by credit card, either use your account with Rakefet OR please go to our website, www.jccoflbi.org.
At the top of the 1st page:
Click "Community"
Click "Giving"
Scroll down to "Pay Here" - click on it and it will take you to the credit card site.
There will be a place where you indicate the purpose of your donation. If it is not "In Honor or In Memory Of', then indicate the purpose under "Other".
|
|
THE WOMEN'S AUXILIARY
OF THE
JCC OF LBI
|
|
and click on the honey link.
|
|
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.
A Zoom link will be sent shortly before the event.
|
|
August Bazaar - August 11 from 8 AM - 3 PM
August 22 at 7:00 PM
Summer Concert II
Vocalist Ryan Kelly with comedian Larry Donsky
Wednesday, August 25 at 4:00 PM
WAX Book Club
"Apeirogon" by Colum McCann
Mah jongg every Tuesday at 12:30 PM
|
|
|
THIS WEEK'S YAHRZEITS
The following names will be read at Friday night services.
Ida Grossman
Anna Hirschfeld
Zachary Korn
Wallace Charles Ruoff*
Samuel Weissman
Blanche Kugel
Anne Miller
Reneta Prebluda
Richard Tucker*
Ben Ungar
Martin Weiner
Donald Churgin
Frances Horenstein*
Gertrude Rosenbloom
Frances Shapiro*
Jack Tanenbaum
Robert Goldman*
Molla Plon
Stanley Schlossman
Alfonso Soto
Miriam Levitt
Ike Saul Shapiro
Sarah Finkel
Peter Friedman*
Leslie Levine
|
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. |
|
|
|
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
|
Janet Cohen
August 8
Annette Kaplan
August 8
Jan Becker
August 9
David M. Freedman
August 10
Allen Lox
August 11
Roberta Abramowitz
August 13
Adam Fishman
August 13
David Robinovitz
August 13
Lynn Sherman
August 13
|
|
|
|
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, Harold Farin has stepped forward and has established “The Farin Family Endowment Fund”. This Fund will join with the three others as part of the JCC Endowment Fund portfolio. Other members are encouraged to also provide for the future of our JCC by establishing similar funds.
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
|
|
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.
|
|
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 OPEN TUESDAY AD THURSDAYS
FROM 10 - 2
CONTINUE TO USE THE PHONE OR EMAIL WITH REQUESTS.
OUR OFFICE STAFF WILL BE CHECKING IN REGULARLY.
|
Staff:
Leslie Dinkfelt, Office Manager
Mary Beth Krieger, Staff Member
Kitchen Manager: Susan Berube
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
