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JEWISH COMMUNITY
CENTER OF
LONG BEACH ISLAND
E-LETTER
June 13, 2025
17 Sivan 5785
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SHABBAT AT THE BEACH
24th STREET, SPRAY BEACH
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What a great Shabbat we had last week. At Shabbat dinner we had 40 people. Before we started the rituals of lighting candles, saying Kiddush, and Hamotzi, I asked folks to tell us the most interesting place the shoes they were wearing had been. Everyone’s shoes were in some very interesting places. Tokyo, Budapest, Machu Picchu, and Mumbai are the names I remember. But, my favorite “most interesting place” was given by the Rebetzin, who told us that her shoes had been in Manahawkin. The Rebetzin has a very good sense of humor.
At any rate, we did our Friday night rituals, sang some songs, and ate a delicious meal. The meal and the evening were coordinated by Norallyn and David Carroll, and Bonni Rubin-Sugarman and Jerry Faich.(They can cater any event that I have).
I am very excited because this week, Friday, June 12th, is our first beach service. We have moved the service to 24th street in Spray Beach (The street that the JCC is on.). The Beach services are a highlight of our summer here on LBI. Come dressed “as you are” and bring your own chairs. Please be sure to join us at 6:00 PM!
Now for some Torah:
I find that I often get unhappy when I do a life review and say, “I should have done this”, or “I should have done that”. It’s not that there are many regrets, but they do exist. The problem is that when we look back and say: “I should have”, there is usually nothing that can be done; in most instances the moment has passed and rarely can it be recaptured.
This week’s Torah portion, Beha’Alotecha, has an answer to this lament. It opens with Aaron being told to light the seven lamps of the Menorah with the lamps facing forward. This causes one to pose the question: “Why would it specifically say that the lamps must be facing forward?” As always with Torah, there are many answers; however, I am going to keep it simple and focus on one of my own thoughts.
So why is Aaron told that the lamps must face forward? It is because we should always strive to face and move forward. When we get caught up in the past, or focus on things that have already happened, the negativity can be overwhelming.
The fact that there are seven branches on the Menorah is not random. The number seven is inherently connected to creation, to the days of the week, and to completeness. Thus, we are reminded that we need to face forward vigilantly, every day, with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.
But it goes just a bit further. In our tradition, the word “light” (Ohr - אוֹר) is often a euphemism for Torah. If the light of the lamps represents Torah, then it is our Torah that should always be facing, and moving, forward. The Text is telling us that we need to push the Torah ahead of us and use it to enlighten our future. Whether we are living it, learning it, or teaching it, the Torah serves as our guide. I am not just referring to the physical Torah, but to the Torah in its bigger sense. The Torah of good deeds, the Torah of kindness, the Torah of justice, the Torah of compassion. I am talking about the Torah that helps us to be “A Light unto the nations”.
We light the Menorah, the Menorah Lights the Torah, the Torah Lights us, and we light the world.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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Join us for services this
Saturday morning
for the babynaming 0f
Eden Liv Brodsky
born on April 22, 2025 to parents Shelly and Matt Brodsky. The grandparents are JCC members Janet & Howard Cohen who are sponsoring a special kiddish in celebration of the occasion.
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SHABBAT SHALOM
Candle Lighting Time
(Southern Ocean County)
Shabbat Eve
Friday, June 13, 2025
PM
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JOIN US
FOR
SHABBAT
SERVICES
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6:00 PM
Services
on the Beach
on 24th Street
Bring your beach chair!
In case of inclement weather services will be held at the JCC.
NOTE CHANGE OF PLACE FROM ORIGINAL SCHEDULE
IN PERSON AND
ON ZOOM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to join Services
on Zoom
FRIDAY NIGHT
Saturday
June 14, 2025
9:00 AM
IN PERSON AND
ON ZOOM
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to join
Zoom services
TORAH READING
Parashat Beha’alotcha
Numbers 8:1-12:16
Beha’alotekha (“When You Raise”) opens with God instructing Moses to inaugurate the Levites for service in the Mishkan (Tabernacle). It also recounts the stories of people who request a second chance to offer the Passover sacrifice, complaints of the Israelites and their punishments, and a disease that affects Miriam.
Here is the Parshah
HAFTORAH
Zechariah 2:14-4:7
This haftorah contains a vision of the golden Temple Menorah, whose daily kindling is discussed in the opening of this week's Torah reading.
Here is the Haftorah
HAVDALLAH
8:30 PM
ON ZOOM ONLY
Here is
your invitation from
Rabbi Jay to join
Zoom services
HAVDALLAH
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WEEKDAY SERVICES
Monday - Thursday
Ma'ariv Service
7:30 PM
Here is your invitation from Rabbi Jay to
join Zoom services:
MA'ARIV
Monday - Friday
Shacharit Service
8:15 AM
Sunday at 9:00 AM
Here is your invitation from Rabbi Jay to
join Zoom services:
| | | | | Thank you to Noralyn & David Carroll and Diane & Ron Buskirk for hosting the June Shabbat Dinner. Deli sandwiches and all the condiments to go with them were enjoyed by 40 diners. | | |
SUNDAY, June 15
Pickleball
10 - 1
Blessing of the Fleet
5:30 PM
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TUESDAY, June 17
Pickleball
10 - 1
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WEDNESDAY, June 18
Canasta & Mah Jongg
12:30 - 4:00 PM
WAX Book Discussion
4:00 PM
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THURSDAY, June 12
Torah Study
11:00 AM
Pickleball
10 - 1
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Sunday, June 15
Blessing of the Fleet
5:30 PM
Wednesday, June 18
WAX Book Discussion
4:00 PM
Sunday, June 22
Welcome Back Brunch
10:00 AM
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Singles Club
Wednesday, July 2
3:00 - 4:00 PM
Israeli Folk Dancing
Sunday, July 13
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Stockton Holocaust Resource Center
Speaker: Director Irvin Moreno Rodriquez
At the JCC
Thursday, July 17
7:00 pm
Klezmer Band World Tour Concert
at Harvey Cedars Bible Center
Sunday, July 20
7:00- 9:30 PM
WAX Brunch
Tuesday, July 22
11:00 AM-1:00 PM
Venue TBD
JCC Summer Bazaar
Wednesday, July 30
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MAH JONGG & CANASTA
WEDNESDAYS
12:30 PM TO 4:00 PM
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PICKLEBALL
Sundays, Tuesdays
and Thursdays
10 - 1
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CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS
THIS SPRING AND SUMMER
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SURFLIGHT COMEDY SHOW
To Benefit the JCC of LBI
August 31, 2025
8:00 PM
The seats in the section set aside for the JCC have been sold out for a few months. The public will be now buying tickets for the event. If you want to sit close to the JCC section in the theater, buy your tickets NOW before the show sells out.
Contact the Surflight Box Office to order yor tickets.
609-492-9477
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Blessing of the Fleet
Sunday, June 15, 2025
5:30 PM
Barnegat Light Yacht Basin; 1701 Bayview
An interdenominational service where fishing and recreational boats are blessed. Local fishing boats take folks out on the bay. Rabbi Jay will be giving the invocation.
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Wednesday, June 18th at 4:00 PM
Discussion Leader: TBA
Does the Soul Survive
By: Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitzer
Near-death experiences? Past-life regression? Reincarnation?
Are these sorts of things Jewish?
With a blend of candor, personal questioning, and sharp-eyed scholarship, Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz relates his own observations and the firsthand accounts shared with him by others, experiences that helped propel his journey from skeptic to believer that there is life after life. From near-death experiences to reincarnation, past-life memory to the work of mediums, Rabbi Spitz explores what we are really able to know about the afterlife, and draws on Jewish texts to share that belief
in these concepts—so often approached with reluctance—is in fact true to Jewish tradition. “The increasing interest and faith in survival of the soul may grow into a cultural wave that is as potentially transformative for society as the civil rights movement and feminism. A renewed faith in ‘the soul’s journeys’ will call for a reassessment of our priorities and will enable traditional religions to renew and
transform their adherents.
Wednesday, July 16th at 4:00 pm
Discussion Leader: Debby Schweighardt
*IN PERSON AT THE JCC LIBRARY AND ON ZOOM
Maine Characters
By Hannah Orenstein
Wednesday, August 13th at 4:00 pm
Discussion Leader: TBA
*IN PERSON AT THE JCC LIBRARY AND ON ZOOM
Red Dog Farm
By Nathaniel Ian Miller
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BEACH SERVICES
June 13 – Beach Services at SPRAY BEACH 6pm
June 20: Beach Services at Spray Beach 6 pm
June 27: Beach Services at Loveladies 6pm
July 11: Beach Services at Spray Beach 6pm
July 18: Beach Services at Loveladies at 6pm
July 25: Beach Services at Spray Beach at 6pm
ugust 8: Beach Services at Loveladies
August 15: Beach Services at Loveladies
August 22: Beach Services at Spray Beach
August 29: Beach Services at Spray Beach
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The JCC section at Crescent Memorial Park is available for sales. Please contact Bonni Rubin-Sugarman at 609-417-7148.
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We are very excited to add to the WAX Gift Shop items from local merchants and artisans. Stop in to look and buy one (or more) of these beautiful pieces for your home, as a gift or just for yourself. Here is a sample one of our new products. The gift shop is open during office hours M-F 10 - 2.
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CALL PAUL LEVINE WITH ANY QUESTIONS
484-802-0586
SEE ORDER FORM BELOW
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The following names will be read by the Rabbi on Friday evening:
Hilda Baron
William Novick
Gertrude Polinsky
Ariel Farrah Lee Ruvinsky
Mitchell Konner
Joan Podos
Sidney Tannenbaum*
Bernard Gross
Michael Salonsky
Freda Schlanger*
William Schlanger*
Norton Geier
Sophie Hellman
Fay Neustadt*
Sallie Wichman
Gail Wolfe
Benjamin August
Sherwood Babst
Edith Katz
Arthur Landau
Jacob Moneta
Dr. Geraldine Prose Young
Martin Berger*
Lucille Fisher
Minnie Lisagor*
Sigmund Moskowitz*
Eugene Steinberg*
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.
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June 14
Juli Smith Brasch
June 15
Perry Fox
June 16
Helen Gross
June 16
Susan Naidoff
June 18
David J. Levy
June 19
Howard Meltzer
June 19
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Norman & Carole Barham
June 14
61st Anniversary
Benjamin & Sue Margulies
June 14
Benjamin & Jeri Riffle
June 14
44th Anniversary
Irwin & Alyssa Sablosky
June 14
44th Anniversary
Jacob & Mary Pleeter
June 15
39th Anniversary
Lewis & Linda Chakrin
June 17
52nd Anniversary
Ian Zimmerman & Stacey Wasserman
June 17
8th Anniversary
Renison & Marcia Gonsalves
June 18
47th Anniversary
| Mazel Tov to Joanne and Howard Babbitt on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson, Jonah Jaclin. | | | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO SUE BERUBE,
OUR KITCHEN MANAGER,
WHO JUST COMPLETED A FOOD PROTECTION
MANAGER CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION.
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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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YOU CAN NOW FILL OUT A GIVING FORM AND PAY ON LINE IN ONE SIMPLE PROCESS.
Go to jccoflbi.org - Giving/Pay
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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:
PAVER 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:
dihoff1@aol.com
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.
See Order form here: Prayer Book
TRIBUTES
SEND ONE OF OUR TRIBUTES IN HONOR OR IN MEMORY OF
See order form here: TRIBUTES
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
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.
Since then, three additional individual Endowment Funds have been established. Other members are encouraged to also provide for the future of our JCC by establishing similar funds. Please consider adding to this number.
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:
YAHRZEIT
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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2025 MEMBERSHIP FORMS
Your support is so important to the continued success of the JCC.
Here is form for renewal:
RENEW NOW
And if you have been reading our Shabbat Reminder and other communications and have not yet joined our congregation, here is the new member form:
JOIN NOW
BE A PART OF THE WOMEN'S AUXILLARY
2025 DUES FORM HERE
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JCC FUNDS
Your gift to the JCC supports 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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JCC LEADERSHIP
OFFICERS
President- Phil Rosenzweig
1ST Vice President-Sherry Fruchterman
2ND Vice President-Diane Hoffman
3RD Vice President- Jon Geier
Treasurer- Stu Cofsky
Secretary- Cliff Denker
Immediate Past President -Michael Babst
BOARD MEMBERS
Howard Babbitt
Diane Buskirk
Lorna Klein
Paul Levine
Ken Podos
Sondi Pripstein
Terri Robinovitz
Bonni Rubin-Sugarman
Rose Valentine
Ken Yudman
WOMEN'S AUXILIARY
President - Diane Buskirk
Co-Vice President - Noralyn Carroll
Co-Vice President - Jill Denker
Treasurer - Suzy Geier
Secretary - Joanne Babbitt
Immediate Past President - Irene Babst
Representative to the Board - Sondi Pripstein
Rabbi Michael S. Jay, Spiritual Leader
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