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From the Region President |
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This week we have Part II from our guest columnist, Region Torah Fund Vice President, Marilyn Cohen. This week’s column is packed full of information and updates including some very exciting news for our Canadian Sisters. Thank you Marilyn for all you do for Torah Fund and for the International Northeast Region!
What are you doing today at Noon? If you aren’t busy, you may just want to join us on Women’s League Daily Psalms for a special guest presenter. We have the opportunity to learn with the first woman ever ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Amy Eilberg. Rabbi Eilberg will lead us in a discussion on the topic, “Cultivating Chesed (loving kindness) For Ourselves and Others.” All are encouraged and welcomed to join us. Newcomers are especially welcome.
And of course, don’t forget to RSVP for our own region programs. See the below flyers for the upcoming November 10th program at Beth David Women of Toronto who are presenting Orev Reena Katz, a Jewish Prison Chaplain and our own INR program, when we will all “Zentangle” on December 15th!
I wish, above all else, good health for you and your loved ones, and of course, a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat.
Joan
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FROM THE REGION TORAH FUND CHAIR |
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There are many different aspects to Torah Fund. In part two of my update I will touch upon many of them in an attempt to provide you with as much information as possible. But first, I want to say Mazal Tov and Todah Rabah to the following Sisterhoods/Women’s Groups in INR who reached or exceeded their Torah Fund Goal last year for the Chesed campaign:
International Northeast Region
Torah Fund Achievement Awards
CHESED CAMPAIGN 2020
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- Beth David Women, Toronto, ON
- Beth Tikvah Women, Toronto, ON
- Beth Tzedec Sisterhood, Toronto, ON
- Congregation Or Shalom Sisterhood, London, ON
- Shaare Zedek Sisterhood, Montreal, QC
- Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Sisterhood, Dewitt, NY
- Temple Adath Yeshurun Sisterhood, Syracuse, NY
- Temple Beth El Sisterhood, Rochester, NY
- Temple Beth Joseph Sisterhood, Herkimer, NY
- Women’s Network of Temple Beth Tzedek, Williamsville, NY
Another aspect of Torah fund is the Creating New Spaces special campaign which will continue until the goal of $200,000.00 is reached. These donations are helping to establish a Women’s League Institute on Gender Bias and Harassment at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, CA, and create a welcoming study space for undergraduate students in their new Residence Hall at The Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC. $100,000.00 is earmarked for each seminary. Both schools are currently closed for in-person classes due to the health crisis, but online learning is very active.
Or send a check, payable to Torah Fund with Spaces in the memo line, to:
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In the US:
Torah Fund
The Jewish Theological Seminary
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
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In Canada the TF office has a NEW ADDRESS:
The Jewish Theological Society
100 Elder St.
Toronto, ON M3H 5G7
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EXCITING NEWS! It was just announced on October 20, 2020 that the Torah Fund Committee and Personnel are exploring possibilities for an online payment portal for our Canadian Donors! I will keep you apprised of any updates as soon as I receive them.
Would you like to bring a student speaker to your virtual Torah Fund program? Contact Rabbi Brad Artson, bartson@aju.edu for a rabbinical student from Zeigler. Contact Lisa Paule, lipaule@jtsa.edu for a rabbinical or cantorial student from JTS.
Would you like to hold a Torah Fund event on Zoom but need technical assistance? There is help for you! Contact Women’s League Zoom chair, Sheila Kaufman, sheilakaufman24@gmail.com.
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B’Yachad/Together.
TORAH FUND PIN 5781 / 2020-2021
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Unfortunately, Torah Fund pins continue to be unavailable. We do not know when we will be able to distribute the B’Yachad pins. However, our students continue to pay their tuition and study remotely. Please, continue to make your donations to Torah Fund to support the education of our future Jewish community leaders. Remember, “It’s about the Jewry, not the jewelry.” And continue to wear your favorite Torah Fund Pin in the meantime.
As always, if you want to make your donations by check, please, send the check to your Sisterhood Torah Fund chair. In the U.S., make your check payable to Torah Fund. In Canada, make your cheque payable to Jewish Theological Society.
Donations online: (US Donors are encouraged to give online. Be sure to include your Sisterhood’s name & city)
· For credit card Torah Fund campaign contributions, click here.
· For credit card contributions to Creating Spaces, click here.
In closing, I’d like to wish you all ‘Hatslachah Rabah’ (much success) in your programming efforts to promote Torah Fund and your own sisterhood programs. B’yachad we can achieve so much. As always, should you need anything re: Torah Fund, please feel free to contact me at marilyncohen@bell.net or 416-518-1860
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SHABBAT MESSAGE
THE TRANSITION OF POWER
By Margie Miller, WLCJ Immediate Past International President
This is THE week, at least in the US, to discuss transition. These are the days after the most recent elections, but the topic of “Transition” has actually been in the news for months. I am writing this message a few weeks before the election results. Perhaps I should wait, but my thoughts are not of the results, but the concept of transition, if there is to be one, or not.
There are many times in our personal lives that power overrides balance. It becomes about the power, the gain or loss of it. It becomes a struggle, often internally but not always.
In organizations, governments and families, there are transitions. One hopes they are smooth, but that is not always the case. In our professional lives, we deal with it all the time. In families, power struggles lead to many a therapist's couch.
In order to create a good transition, a true healthy power shift, one doesn’t need to look any further than the example of a relay team.
Close your eyes and imagine watching an Olympic Track Relay team. Each person runs their length, to the best of their ability. Their “leg” of the race is extremely important. However, the most important part of their leg, is how they pass the baton to the next runner. It must be done with great thought and planning. It must be done precisely. Each person has a responsibility to pass and to pick up the baton with speed and grace.
This should be the mindset from the very beginning. Each racer knows they will begin to run, then pass the baton and finally end their essential part of the race.
We have so many opportunities in our lives to pass the torch. It is imperative that each of us understands that process, allow for a few blunders but eventually accept and embrace the efforts of all those involved. Nobody drops the baton on purpose. Nobody deliberately sabotages their part of the race or tries to ruin it for another team mate. BECAUSE, each runner knows the race is not about them, but about the team. In every family, company, organization and government, it has to be about the good of the whole.
This week, we are talking politics, but the lessons of “Transition of Power” are universal.
This Shabbat, I hope you all find a way to look at the transitions in your life with a new understanding.
Shabbat Shalom,
Margie Miller
WLCJ Immediate Past International President
mmiller@wlcj.org
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Programming Idea of the Week |
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Bob Alper: The World's only practicing clergyman doing stand-up comedy... intentionally!
Bob's unique background (he's an ordained rabbi who served congregations for fourteen years and holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary) prepared him well for a twenty-seven year comedy career with wonderfully unique material presented in a way that's intelligent, sophisticated, and 100% clean. Bob performs all across North America and England, at corporate events, theaters, non-profits, conventions, private parties, churches, and, naturally, synagogues.
“The Spirituality of Laughter” Has been adapted to a Zoom format. It’s a Jewish look at the Holiness of Humor. This program is part informal sermon (with plenty of laughs) exploring how Judaism values the spiritual, psychological, and physiological benefits of laughter, followed by 30 minutes of pure stand-up comedy! Rabbi Alper has other Zoom formatted programs available as well.
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Ellen Wasserman
Programming Team
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Grace Schessler
International VP WLCJ
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Social Justice Blurb of the Week |
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Parashat Vayera / Shabbat,
November 7, 2020 - Adapting Mitzvot in our New Normal
We begin Parashat Vayera with the three angels/people visiting Abraham while he is recuperating from his circumcision. In this situation, we see evidence of at least two mitzvot - Hachnasat Orchim, Hospitality and Bikkur Cholim, Visiting the Sick. Performing both of these mitzvot have very much changed during our ‘new normal’ during COVID-19. We are not able to visit people like we used to, and visiting the sick is not safe. How has the performance of these mitzvot changed? Brainstorm ways that these mitzvot can be adapted during the times we live in today.
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Want to sing, teach, help with technology and more during Daily Study and Kaddish? Click here to
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Monday - Friday 12 PM Noon ET; 11 AM CT; 9 AM PT; 10 AM MT
Join Zoom Meeting:
Meeting ID: 630 830 287
Password: 875936
Dial by your location:
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York);
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose);
+1 647 558 0588 Canada;
+972 55 330 1762 Israel;
+972 3 978 6688 Israel
or find your local number:
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Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Ancestors - starting Monday, November 9, 2020
What will we do once we finish all 150 chapters of the Book of Psalms? As the Mara D’atra of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, I have advised that we should recite a Psalm, in order to say Kaddish with our holy Zoom community. Therefore, starting on Friday, November 6, 2020, we will read the Psalm for Friday, and going forward we will read the Psalm for each day of the week. Although we will no longer be intensely learning a chapter of Psalms, our noon time learning will continue, but our text will be different. Starting on Monday, November 9, 2020, we will begin studying Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Ancestors. If you would like to teach, you can sign up on Sign Up Genius. Click here to SIGN UP.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields
WLCJ Executive Director
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Stay Connected with WLCJ Groups |
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WLCJ American Mothers of Olim GoogleGroup
WLCJ has googlegroups that benefit many of our communities. There is a group for sisterhood presidents, for judaica shop chairs, and Women's League Reads.
A lesser known group is for American Mothers of Olim (Children who have made aliyah to Israel). With more people staying in place and travel being put on hold, there has been renewed interest in this group. Women's League members are invited to participate.
Interested? Contact Ellie Kremer,
Israel Committee Chair
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Join the WLCJNet
WLCJNet is the Sisterhood without Walls. This is a site where each member of Women’s League can share ideas, exchange opinions, and get suggestions. We share stimulating ideas for programs, fundraising ideas, and ways to grow our membership. We may need some suggestions for holiday recipes or places where we or family members can stay while traveling. We share information we learn in our Jewish community. We grow together and learn from each other. The WLCJNet is open every day except Shabbat and Jewish holidays. We welcome new members.
To join the WLCJNet, please send an email to Sherry Lynn Rubin at slrubin@wlcj.org.
Please send your name, name of sisterhood, location of sisterhood, and email address, and you will be added to the WLCJNet.
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Mid-Atlantic Women's League Institute |
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Women's League Billie Rubinoff Learning Institute presents
a series of classes and discussions on
DIVERSI-NORMATIVITY:
Celebrating the Diversity of the American Jewish Community
with Dr. Helene Herman Krupnick
(see bio below)
Thursdays on Zoom at 7:00 PM ET -
November 5, 12, 19, December 3, 10,
Fee - $60
Everyone Welcome
Many of us in the South Jersey Jewish community have Ashkenazi Jewish roots. Tracing our families back to Poland, Russia, Hungary, Germany or other central and eastern European locales, we share similar immigration stories and timetables, Yiddishisms, foods, tunes and customs. We love our Bubbes’ recipes and rightfully take pride in our heritage.
Waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries created an American Jewry that is majority Ashkenazi and an American Jewish culture that reflects these Ashkenazic roots. Many of us simply accept our view of Jews and Judaism as normative; this is what Judaism is and who Jews are. There is now a name for this: Ashkenormativity!
However, there is a movement afoot to celebrate the diversity of the American Jewish community. Although Ashkenazic Jews are the majority in America, there are many other American Jews who have roots in other global Jewish communities with customs that reflect particular Sephardi, Mizrachi or other traditions. There are American Jews who bring other historical and ethnic traditions that enrich an evolving American Jewish culture. We also recognize that Jews come in many hues — according to recent reports anywhere between 6-15% of American Jews identify as People of Color.
In this class we will take steps to embrace the multiculturalism within the Jewish community. We will explore a variety of Jewish groups in America who identify with non-Ashkenazic traditions, such as Bukharian, Syrian, Persian, and other communities. We will look at their histories and immigration stories, and their specific customs. We will explore the racial diversity of American Jewry as it stands today and historically. We will also look at how the American Jewish community is reaching out to existing and emerging Jewish communities globally in an effort to expand our understanding of what it looks like to be a Jew.
Information on our amazing long-term instructor: A graduate of the Joint Program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Helene Herman Krupnick earned BAs in Psychology and Jewish History, as well as an MA in Jewish History, and a DHL in Modern Jewish Studies from JTS. A Jewish educator with over 30 years experience in day school, synagogue and federation work, Dr. Herman Krupnick is currently an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies at Stockton University.
Please share this information with women throughout our community.
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The Jewish Community Relations Network Speaks Out for Free and Fair Elections
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) spearheaded “A Jewish Statement on Elections and Democratic Principles,” signed by the community relations network--more than 90 Jewish organizations, including fifteen national member agencies and 76 local Jewish community relations councils and Federations. Click here to read the statement.
The signatories called upon “government leaders, candidates, and elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, at every level and branch of government to recommit to our nation’s core democratic principles and oppose violence emerging from the far right or the far left.” They further stated “in the case of contested or close elections we ask for patience and trust in the system, as we allow for every valid vote to be counted. We ask civic and faith leaders to set a standard of discourse, oppose violence and encourage peaceful engagement in the political process.”
“We are proud that such a diverse swath of the Jewish community speaks in one voice for democracy and accessible and free elections,” stated David Bernstein, President and CEO of JCPA. “Particularly during a pandemic, we need to make sure that all votes are counted and that we do everything in our power to reinforce our democratic norms and values. American Jews, like all Americans, are deeply committed to democracy.”
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B’Yachad Together: Spirited by American Jewish University.
Over 165 conversations and 55,000 registrations – B’yachad Together: Spirited by American Jewish University – continues to deliver original content designed to captivate, ignite and advance ideas, spark thought-provoking dialogue and debate, and capture the insights of faculty and friends.
For more information on B'Yachad Together spirited by AJU, please click here to REGISTER or READ MORE.
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The Whizin Center for Continuing Education is pleased to present our mid-fall lineup of classes and learning opportunities, delivered in an ONLINE format.
We wish continued good health and safety to the entire community. We will be updating our offerings and classes on an ongoing basis. Be sure to visit our website to learn more.
For more information on the Whizin Center for Continuing Education, please click here to REGISTER or READ MORE.
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The Torah's Take on Happiness; Can We "Remix" Judaism?; Whatever Happened to Moses's Family?; and More
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Kol Tzedek: A Virtual Conference on Racial Justice
November 8-10, 2020
Join USCJ for an engaging conference on racial justice and community organizing for synagogue professionals and lay-leaders.
Interact with experts, hear success stories from synagogues doing important justice work, and gain tools to initiate and build on social justice work in your community.
Register today. Cost is $18 per person. Zoom links will be provided upon registration.
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Become a Member/Renew
Your Membership to Mercaz
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The new membership year begins July 1, 2020. There are two ways you can become a supporter of Mercaz:
IN THE US
IN CANADA
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Join Sharsheret and our community partners for an engaging conversation with activist, breast cancer survivor, and author, Letty Cottin Pogrebin as she offers insights and practical advice, and answers your questions.
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To purchase your
WLCJ Calendar Diary
2020-2021,
please click on the link below or
to download the order form,
email Razel Kessler
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Continue the love
We are continuing to collect fleece blankets and t-shirt shopping bags for The ARK as our Social Action Project for Convention 2020. If you have any questions or have already completed fleece blankets and/or t-shirt shopping bags, please contact Edna Schrank
eschrank@wlcj.org or 847-651-2231. Please ask Edna on where to send them. If you need the directions, please click on the appropriate link:
UPDATE: On September 2, 2020, I was honored to deliver the first group of fleece blankets (19), t-shirt shopping bags (32), and reusable bags (58) to The ARK as we continue our Social Action Project from Convention 2020...
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LOVE WLCJ ON SOCIAL MEDIA |
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Follow WLCJ on her Social Media Sites. If you aren't already following Women's League for Conservative Judaism on all her social media sites, now is the time to do so. It's a great way to keep in touch with the latest news and events. Click on the icon to go to the social media site.
Stay tuned over the next months for quick tips on how to help maximize WLCJ's impact on all her social media sites.
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