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 Benjamin J. Dubin Some 35 years ago my wife, Esther, gave birth to an adorable girl, Rachel. It was not until Rachel was three that we knew she had a hearing loss. Then, at the age of five, Rachel lost all her residual hearing. Esther, a coronary care nurse, took a break in her career to be with Rachel and to be her ears when necessary. Together the three of us advocated for the deaf and hard of hearing: Rachel testified before the United States Congress beginning at age eleven while Esther and I were involved in local and national disability groups. Everything was going well. Esther returned to nursing when Rachel was in her mid-teens and Rachel, despite her profound deafness, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Goucher College with a major political science and a minor in Russian language and earned a masters degree from George Washington University. [...]
By Wendy Grinberg Back when I lived in Atlanta, my single girlfriends and I would get together for Rosh Chodesh celebrations. It was a wonderful time to get together, devote time to one another, acknowledge our spiritual and psychological growth and challenges, and just show each other some love and support. This celebration of the new Jewish month was revived by Jewish women groups in the ‘70s, based on the traditional association of women with Rosh Chodesh. We are commanded to celebrate the new moon in Exodus 12:2, right before the Israelites leave Egypt. A text in Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezar explains that women did not give their jewelry for the creation of the Golden Calf, and so were rewarded with the observance of Rosh Chodesh (Chapter 45). The actual celebration is hardly mandated, so there is a lot of room for creativity in designing a ritual celebration. I used to [...]
by Rabbi Leora Kaye I’m a rabbi, and my husband’s an atheist. My husband Doug’s atheism is well thought-out. He’s a loving, intelligent guy who doesn’t believe in God and hasn’t since he was eleven. He is moral, compassionate and Jewish, and he does not believe that his ethics are related to God. We believe parenting should be deliberate and purposeful, much like Reform Judaism. Choices should be based on knowledge, specifically knowledge about what kind of parent you want to be, what works in your family system and what works for your son or daughter. In this week’s Jewish Parenting Podcast, psychologist Richard Weissbourd says that while most parents do care about raising moral children, few make it their number one priority. Outside of the conversations my husband and I had trying to decide if a relationship between an atheist and a rabbi could work, we had one discussion [...]
The first I ever heard of Debbie Friedman was to see her name printed on the inside covers of my synagogue’s prayer books, naming her the author of the modern Mi Shebeirach tune. Growing up, that was all I ever knew of her – just a name above the words on a page. I grew up attending a Reform congregation, but I did not grow up “in the Movement,” per se. My mother and I were members of a small congregation in Northeast Ohio where there was no organized youth group, no NFTY or BBYO. There were just six students in my bat mitzvah class, and though we considered ourselves friends, we all attended different schools, which made friendships difficult outside of synagogue-related activities – and at my suburban public school, I was one of just two Jewish students. Needless to say, though I always identified as Jewish, I did [...]
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February 2012
Guest Speaker, Yael Farber, Israeli Schlicha
"Wherever You Go: A Novel" by Joan Leegant
Bring a Dish to Share & RSVP to Temple by 2/8/12
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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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