Welcome to Temple Beth-El! I am delighted that you are interested in our congregation and its activities.  As the congregation’s rabbi I look forward to engaging with you about your potential involvement in our community. We love when our building is filled with the many wonderful occasions we enjoy – from ritual observances to life cycle celebrations to social gatherings, and especially when someone expresses an interest in joining our community. You can be part of the great joy of Temple! Now is a great time to become part of the Temple Beth-El family: for your child’s Jewish education; for your own personal fulfillment through community involvement; for finding Jewish friends in the neighborhood – Temple Beth-El can help you reach these goals. Consider yourself warmly invited to join us at one of our many upcoming activities. I hope to continue building the special relationship that I cherish with so many members of the congregation. We hope to hear from you soon. For more information about Temple Beth-El, please call, write or drop on by!
Most sincerely-
B’shalom,
Rabbi Eric J. Siroka
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Cleaning out your
closets, basement, garage?
Temple is planning a YARD SALE,
so before you drop your stuff off at a local charity,
consider bringing the items to Temple.
Don't Forget to shop at the
Temple Beth-El Sisterhood Gift Shop
If you go to amazon.com by clicking the icon below Temple will receive a percentage back.
HELP TEMPLE RAISE FUNDS BY SHOPPING!!!
Our Scrip program lets you purchase gift cards and gives Temple a percentage of the sales. Some of the best sellers and highest percentage of profit include: Outback, Bonefish, Carrabba's, Panera, Starbucks and Chipotle. Now you can reload gift cards online and also print several gift certificates from your computer. Please consider ordering gift cards from Great Lakes scrip on a regular basis. Go to www.glscrip.com and click on the list of retailers for a complete list. If you are interested in reloading cards for places such as Gap, Starbucks or Speedway contact Lisa Gerber. If you would like e-mail reminders to place an order, send an e-mail to Lisa to indicate this. Thank you for your support of this program.
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by Evelyne Klein When our (fabulous) Membership Director asked if I would host a Shabbat dinner at our house, as a way to have long-standing members meet new members, I thought: What a terrific idea!! There were so many new members we did not know, and members we saw at temple events only. What better way to bring old and new together, get to know other members better, than around the Shabbat dinner table? I was amazed at the synergies between the old and new members who came: the conversation flowed around the table, with everyone introducing themselves, and topics ranging from the impact of Hillel on college students to training for boards, to activities for disabled youngsters and numerous other topics, both personal and otherwise. The conversation was lively and vigorous the entire evening. When our kids were young, my father would insist we come for Shabbat dinner on [...]
by Craig Parks I am a very rare breed in the Reform Movement. Out of over 900 congregations I am one of the very few full time Directors of Youth Programming that has been in my job over ten years. I have now spoken at my third national Biennial in a row and do so with great fervor. When those attendees come to my presentations and hear about the 60 -70 kids coming to our Teen Shabbat Jam 2 hour Friday night service once a month or our well over 100 9-12 graders participating in our programs such as the social action youth group Tikkun Project, or the summer camp that brings in gobs of kids and teens who work on staff I sometimes have to reach for napkins to wipe the drool off the faces. I can’t even tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “Can [...]
The Obama’s dog? No, it’s not that “Bo” my friend We’re talking Torah! In this week’s portion Pesach observance described A law for all time Kids are gonna ask What’s this seder mean to you? You must answer them Exodus 12:26-27 Your children may ask you, ‘What is this service to you?’ You must answer, ‘It is the Passover service to God. He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, sparing our homes.’
by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp In my first installment in this series, I spoke about the merger discussions between our congregation and the Tri City Jewish Center. At that time I stated that since I addressed institutional reasons for why the resulting congregation should affiliate with the Reform movement in my answers to the Merger Task Force’s questionnaire, therefore in this series I would restrict the focus of these articles to personal ideological reasons for my love of and commitment to Reform Judaism. However, as I now conclude this series, I wish to remove that self-imposed restriction and revisit why I feel so strongly about our congregation’s connection to the institutions and organizations of Reform Judaism. While ideology, practice, culture, all are important, they do not exist in a vacuum. They do not spring up overnight, born of thin air. Rather they are the product of like-minded people coming together [...]
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January 2012
Sisterhood Shabbat & Kiddush Luncheon
February 2012
"Wherever You Go: A Novel" by Joan Leegant
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“Friends, the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.” With these words, Rabbi Eric Yoffie introduced the first sitting president to ever address the URJ Biennial convention. This was but one of many highlights. The president was gracious and genuinely humbled with his reception in our crowd, acknowledging the various leaders present – Rabbi Yoffie, Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, incoming president of the URJ, as well as Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ambassador Michael Oren. Perhaps the best moment of his introduction was when he immediately followed with a “shout out to NFTY, who I understand is in the house.” The tremendous response by the 225 teenagers from NFTY (the North American Federation of Temple Youth) was amplified by the cheering of the remaining 5000 people among us. He responded to their enthusiasm saying “I’m fired up just listening to them.” Mr. Obama greeted us with a hearty “Shabbat Shalom”, gave a d’var torah (yes, a d’var torah) on hineini, being present and accountable, and launched a passionate discussion of the various issues he feels are important for us to consider as Americans and a progressive Jewish body. This was merely part of an hour – and one I will never forget.
And so much more – from the many different presentations and opportunities for learning that were offered to the ongoing networking with friends and colleagues old and new, this Biennial was a fabulous experience. I am especially proud of the Education Summit, one of the major programmatic threads of the convention. It led to the launch of the Campaign for Youth Engagement, through which the entire Reform Movement is looking at how to continue better connect the next generation of the Jewish people. We should all be proud of the role that our own Debra Siroka played in coordinating and executing such a high-level of thoughtful, important work. The closing session on Sunday included a powerful, uplifting and affirming presentation by Rabbi Jacobs, in which he demonstrated what will be his style of inclusive, visionary and relationship-based leadership. I encourage all of you to review these and other Biennial moments – you can find texts and videos at www.urj.org.
However, without a doubt, the greatest part of Bienniel for me personally was being one of the 10 members of our own Temple family in attendance. Over and over again, as I spoke with people who learned that our congregation of some 225 families had such a delegation, they marveled at how connected and committed we are to being part of the larger Reform Jewish world. Special thanks and appreciation to Marzy Bauer, Jo Duke, Bill Gitlin, Gayle Hachen, Lene Mirkin, Debra Siroka, Chuck Stanton, Nancy Stanton and Zabe Williams, “Team TBE”, for making this Biennial the best one yet!
I know that we all have a great amount of information, experience, and ideas that we’ve brought back to share with the congregation. Along with the other participants in the URJ/WRJ program, I look forward to engaging with you as we continue to create blessings and meaningful moments in the days, months and years ahead.
A very special occasion
As you know, this month involves one such significant occasion in the life of my own family – as we will mark the milestone of Bar Mitzvah with our son Benjamin on the Shabbat of January 13/14. As is our Temple custom, Ben will participate in leading the service on Friday eve, and lead us in prayer and celebration on Saturday morning – as he will be called to Torah for the first time. Debra and I are delighted to share this simcha with our Temple family, and are thankful for all of the love and support we have received through this time, and always.
Most sincerely,
Rabbi Eric J. Siroka
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