Our
2019-2020 Calendar
will be available soon. Keep watching for it!
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Greetings!
Women of Rodef Sholom provides you the opportunity for community. Come feel connected and meet some wonderful women. We want to get to know you!
Let's have some fun this summer -- There's a lot to do!
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6/4 and 6/18 1-3 pm Rodef Sholom Social Hall
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Monthly open Mahj play is usually the first & third Tuesday of every month.
Bring your sets, your cards and your Mahj friends. Let's have fun!
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6/19 7:15-8:15 JCC Library
(3rd Wed. of the month)
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Schedule:
June 19th
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Books for this summer will be discussed and calendared at the June meeting.
To RSVP
CLICK HERE
or Call Alice Miller with questions: 415-381-6792
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The San Francisco Pride Parade
Sunday, June 30th
Planned Parenthood will have a contingent marching in the Parade. We will once again join Planned Parenthood marching in proud celebration of our LGBTQIA community!
Please register with Planned Parenthood Northern California at:
Sign up quickly, you need to register to ride on the trolley, limited space available. Don't wait.
After registering with Planned Parenthood, please send RSVP to Angela Giacomini at
wrssisterhood@gmail.com
so we know to expect you!
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It was so much fun last year. If you haven't marched, give it a try!
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WRJ Pacific District Northern California Area Day:
July 27-28, 2019
Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills
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Area Day is a great way to learn about Sisterhood, meet women from other Bay Area Reform Congregation Sisterhoods and hear more about leadership. We encourage participation and will pay for your attendance. If interested please contact
wrs@rodefsholom.org
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WRS Annual POOL PARTY
Sunday, August 25 from 11:30 - 3:30
WRS pool party and pot luck is always such a fun event
Bring a towel, and join us this year!
(you don't even need to swim -- come for the company and great pot luck!)
Join the party at:
501 San Pedro Cove, San Rafael
Community Room and Cabana of Toni Golbus' pool
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Please bring item to share according to your last name initial:
A-F Desserts
G-L Salads/Sides
M-S Main dish
T-Z Hor d'oeuvres
When you come through the gate take a right and then a quick left into the parking lot. The pool cabana will be straight ahead.
If lost on the day of event, Toni can be reached at
415-816-1089
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Honey for Sale
Rosh Hashana is Sept. 30th
It feels early to order, however, FREE SHIPPING is available through July 31st!
- Cost $13 per jar
- Honey is guaranteed to arrive by Sept 4th
- ORT Honey is True Source Honey and can be tracked from hive to table
- Later orders will include a $5 per jar shipping fee, so order early!
Cards and postage are expensive! For only a little bit more cost, your family and friends will receive a beautiful jar of honey with your New Year's greetings!
All proceeds support WRS Tikkun Olam fund
Free shipping will be offered
through July 31st.
Delivery in time for Rosh Hashanah is guaranteed for orders placed
through September 4th
and we will continue to accept orders through the High Holidays.
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WRS Annual Women's RETREAT May 3-5 at Westerbeke Ranch
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The WRS Retreat was abundant and fulfilling in so many ways. Spiritually enriched with Rabbi Lara, Dan Nichols and our own Amy Friedricks leading Shabbat morning services, which included the Blessing of the Scarfs (see article below and Rabbi Lara's Comments from the Clergy). Educationally satisfying with workshops led by our own Claire Mikowski. Emotionally rich by connecting with wonderful women and meeting new friends. Physically plentiful with the beauty of Westerbeke Ranch and the amazing and nutritious food they provide.
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The Retreat is Sisterhood at it's best --
פנים אל פנים
(panim al panim = face to face). Creating community by learning and growing together.
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A poem reflecting on the Retreat by Dinah Lang, Vallejo Poet Laureate:
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Scene
It was just another scene in the movies of our lives.
We sang our evening prayers just one more time,
caught up with old friends and drank a little wine.
Under a canopy of trees we sang out into the night
as the stars overhead were smiling, dancing in the sky,
and for a little while everything was alright.
Goodnight, my sisters. Until next time.
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Yasher Koach to Retreat Chair, Susan Goldwasser, and her amazing committee, for putting on a life-changing Retreat. May you go from strength to strength!
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Venetia Valley Mother's Day Boutique
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A true joy and pleasure to do this event each year. Witnessing a child from Venetia Valley School picking out something very special to give to their mother on Mother's Day.
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WRS volunteers being of service
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Picking out something special for their mother.
A gift of LOVE
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Thank you to Hannah Panger and her committee for doing such Mitzvot by being of service to our community. Yasher Koach!!
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WANT TO GET INVOLVED
BUT DON'T KNOW HOW?
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Come shop and support the Women of Rodef Sholom.
Summer Hours:
6/24-6/28 11:30-2pm Mon-Friday
7/1-7/12 closed
7/15-9/4 11:30-2pm Mon-Friday
Or by appointment, call Ingrid: 415-640-7868
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If you're interested in volunteering to work in the Gift Shop, please contact Ingrid Tolson by clicking the link below.
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Women of Rodef Sholom 2018-2019 Membership
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You can now renew your Membership
ON-LINE. It's easy!
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A note from our President
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Dear Sisters,
It has been a pleasure and a joy to serve as the Women of Rodef Sholom President during the 2018-19 term! I would like to thank the wonderful WRS Board for making my job incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. This is a dedicated group of women who continually strives to follow the Women of Rodef Sholom Mission Statement:
The Women of Rodef Sholom Sisterhood (WRS) promotes the general well-being of our Reform Jewish congregation, fosters Tikkun Olam~repairing the world, encourages social action, and creates opportunities for individual growth through study, spirituality, and community.
I am headed to London with my husband for his work, where will be spending most of our time for a year or two. We will be traveling back and forth a bit, so I hope to be in town for upcoming Sisterhood events and see many of you then. I will stay involved with WRS from across the pond, by remaining on the Board as Immediate Past President and continuing to manage the WRS website.
Jennifer Levine will be leading the fabulous incoming Board as the WRS President. We are all delighted to have Jennifer at the helm! Please keep an eye on the engaging WRS monthly Newsletter and the WRS website
wrs-sisterhood.org
to stay informed of our events and activities.
Women of Rodef Sholom is a multigenerational community of women joyfully connected through activities and actions. Come explore Judaism, engage in meaningful social action, and have fun with us!
We’re one woman short without you!
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With much love,
Lucy Schneidman
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Dear Friends,
How fortunate I have felt these last few weeks to be able to reflect on the amazing morning that many of us shared at the WRS Retreat, to sing and to pray, to be able to just be for a few hours. I have heard from many about the moment during the morning when we stopped to pray for healing, both for ourselves and for those whom we love, and to take the opportunity in that moment to bless the beautiful healing scarves together. I’ll be honest with you – I wasn’t sure what it meant to bless an object that wasn’t already a religious object, to make something holy. But given the opportunity to reflect on that experience, I am confident that, in that space together, we sanctified those scarves and made them holy together in a way that could only be done in sacred community.
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Wrapped in "Heal Her Now" scarfs
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Fanny and Mary
Mother/Daughter love!
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That moment has left me thinking about what it means to make something mundane into something that is holy, an act that might only be reserved for ritual objects and things that we use in religious experiences, or a lifecycle or holiday that takes us out of the mundane into the special time. We distinguish the difference when we mark the end of Shabbat with Havdallah, just as God distinguished between the six days of creation and the day of rest that was different. In the Torah, God called God’s works of creation “good.” Maybe God’s “good” is what is our “holy,” a world, a place, a person, an animal, a thing that can (or should) be used for good, just as our healing scarves were meant to be.
A few weeks ago, we read parashat Kedoshim which begins, “You shall be holy for I, Adonai your God, am holy.” What makes you holy? What makes your time, your being, your life holy? I invite you to take some time to find the holy in your life, and to remember that, as we learned on the Retreat, the holiness doesn’t have to be religious, but instead can be marked as something special, something different, something you cherish, something you need, something
holy
.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Lara
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WRS New Minhag (custom)
"Heal Her Now" SCARFS
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El na, refah na lah (Please God, heal her now)
From Numbers 12:13 -
Then Moses cried to the LORD, "Heal her now, O God."
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The Women of Rodef Sholom has a new minhag (custom) which was introduced and created at the WRS Retreat this year. Inspired by Rabbi Stacy receiving a scarf from the Reform Female Rabbinate when she was healing from her cancer diagnosis, we decided that sharing this kind of loving kindness, refu’ah sh’leymah (complete healing), and Torah, is what Sisterhood is all about.
From now on, when a woman in our Congregation is diagnosed with cancer (or other serious illness or at the discretion of Rabbi Stacy), that woman will be presented with a "Heal Her Now" Scarf as a gift from the Women of Rodef Sholom.
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The following is an outline of how this project took form.
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Part 1: Purchase and Initial Preparation of the Scarfs
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Silk scarfs and supplies are purchased and painted (the Retreat facility would not allow fabric dye).
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Part 2: Blessing of the Scarfs at the WRS Retreat
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Retreat participants wear the Scarfs as Rabbi Lara blessed us and them as part of our Mishaberach prayer service.
It was powerful and it was holy!(See Rabbi Lara's Comments from the Clergy article below)
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Part 3: Holding Torah during Mishaberach, Torah's love going into the Scarfs
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Part 4: Sisterhood Members Decorating Scarfs
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El na, refah na lah
(Please God, heal her now) was inscribed on the Scarfs. They were then decorated and love poured into them.
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Women make cards with loving messages of support to accompany the Scarfs given to the recipient. Acts of anonymous loving kindness!
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The box of Scarfs (see photo above) has been presented to Rabbi Stacy. They are filled with love, Torah and blessings for healing.
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We solemnly pray that you never need one of these Scarfs. However, if you do, please contact Rabbi Stacy or
wrs@rodefsholom.org
and you will be wrapped in healing love.
El na, refah na lah (Please God, heal her now)!
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Our Kihella Kedosha
(holy community)
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“It’s what we do”
How many times have I said those words when working to make just a little bit of difference in our community and the world? I never thought I would be on the receiving end of, “it’s what we do” until one day in mid-March when I fell in the parking lot in front of the JCC.
On the ground, trying to figure out where all the pain and blood were coming from, I heard the familiar voice of my friend, Judi Sheppard, springing into action. Within seconds, the team from the JCC Health Club was on hand to help, a 911 call was made and I was surrounded by so many people wanting to help. Judi followed the ambulance to the ER and waited while I was attended to.
When I visited the orthopedist, I was told that my elbow was in very bad shape and would require surgery and a long, complicated recovery. Once again, “it’s what we do.” People called asking how they could help, meals were delivered, people visited, flowers arrived along with so many well wishing cards.
I am so grateful to be part of our wonderful WRS and the greater CRS community. I am rooted here. I hope to see you all soon and look forward to being on the giving end of, “it’s what we do.”
Fanny Stein
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Congregation Rodef Sholom
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In the bin this month: In the temple lobby
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June:
Kids DVDs for Little Wishes organization that supports kids battling cancer
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