june 2005 ~ iyar - sivan 5765

> From the Rebbe
> Gifts of Light
> News from Dor Hadash
> eScrip and more...
> Board News ~ President's Letter
> Towards Building Sacred Community-Congregational Meeting
> Community Announcements
> Casino Night Thank-Yous
> Etz Chaim ~Tree of Life
> Donations Make a Difference!
> Newsletter Guidelines

Chevre and Friends...

Announcements:

Congregational Meeting - June 12th 11am- 1pm.
Please see the section below ~ Towards Building Sacred Community

Rabbi Elisheva is on Sabbatical and will return September 15th.
If you need assistance please contact the office at 664-8622.

Administrator's Wish List:
A new container of spackle for patching small interior holes

From the Rebbe

Dear Hevre,

In the beginning of the book of Numbers (which is called 'bamidbar' in Hebrew), there is, unsurprisingly, a census. In it there are actually a series of censuses (censi?), as follows:
Census 1: men of age to bear arms (20+) 603,550
Census 2: men who are Levites 22,000
Census 3: men who are first born (30 days+) 22,273
Census 4: men who are Kohathites (30-50) 2,750
Census 5: men who are Gershonites (30-50) 2,630
Census 6: men who are Merarite (30-50) 3,200

The Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites are families within the tribe of Aaron, who is a Levite. These priests actually handled the items within the Holy of Holies. It's interesting that you can fight at 20, but you need to wait longer to serve in the Temple.

Now counting people is a dangerous action, for it can bring about an awareness on the part of ill spirits of the number and location of a group of people. Just the other day, at the Women's seder (a fabulous feast filled with wonderful women!), our host said that she had set a certain number of chairs, and we could look to see how many were empty, so as to avoid counting the people in the room. It's clear from the book of Exodus that counting is dangerous (chapter 30:12-13):
When you take the census of the people of Israel according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the Lord, when you count them; that there should be no plague among them, when you count them. This they shall give, every one who passes among those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary; a shekel is twenty gerahs; a half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one who passes among those who are counted, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord.

This obviously serves several purposes:
1) prevention of the plague that comes with the counting.
2) a way of counting (by counting the half shekels) that does not involve actually counting people.
3) a chance to increase the coffers of the Sanctuary!

It's as if identifying a person without some divine protection can cause harm, but the 'ransom' will avert it. Like the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, the stubbornness of Israel, the danger of looking at G!d face to face, here again we see powers that are either beyond control of G!d, or are an inexorable part of the Divine, that cannot be shut off. This idea flies in the face of the notion that G!d is all-powerful. I'd like to suggest that our idea of all-powerfulness may not be expandable to include the totality of G!d.

We are taught that each soul is precious to G!d, and that the descendants of Sarah and Abraham are to be uncountable as the sands of the seas. How do we reconcile these two things in light of this chapter? Perhaps it is like prayer - in order to stand before the Almighty, we must each bring a small token, which lifts us from the masses and gives us recognition.

That connection of giving and receiving will be all the more apparent at Sinai, an event we will be celebrating in a short while at Shavuot. There, the people could not stand on faith alone. Modern midrash suggests that they needed to create for G!d a footstool, a golden calf to bind them materially with the Divine Presence. Sadly, this is a gift that's not so easily accepted, since it looks like an idol (cows being a powerful symbol in ancient times). I sometimes feel that the punishments for this act are part of the Divine single-mindedness - justice instead of compassion. Did not G!d say to Moses: 'I do not ask for a sanctuary in accordance with My capacity, but in accordance with theirs. For should I desire it, the whole world could not hold My glory!'

May your Shavuot be filled with the Glory and Presence.

L'shalom,
Elisheva

Gifts of Light

MEMORIAL DONATIONS...
ARIANA ELSTER, a donation in memory of Dr. B. B. Elster
SHIRA HADDITT, a donation in memory of Beatrice Schneiderman

OFFERINGS...
EVELYN SACKLER, a donation in honor of Pam Pepper's friendship and good deeds, and a donation in honor of Gesher Calmenson for his love and dedication to the Jewish people

THANK YOU...
To KRISTI PEARSON and MOLLI NAGEL for co-chairing the Casino night and everyone who made it a success
To DAN WILLIAMSON, for volunteering to scrub 50 years of grime off the stove, along with a thorough cleaning of the refrigerator

News from Dor Hadash

Shalom Chevre,
We are just finishing up a year of growth, exploration, learning, tzedakah and tikkun olam. I hope that what we have done this year at Dor Hadash enriched your children's lives, and hopefully your life as well. Our goal is to build a caring community where everyone feels accepted as we learn about Jewish values, history, holidays and Torah.

As I write this article many new ideas for the school are still being worked out, which we will inform you about soon as we know what is happening. What we do know about next year is:
1. We will have 10 more sessions next year than this year in order to create an easier environment for the students to learn Hebrew within.
2. We plan to have one Family Education session each month which will include a special art project, trip, or very creative learning experience for the whole family. You will be welcome to bring a younger or older child that may not be enrolled in the school, to participate in the special event.
3. We have a new, creative curriculum that Rabbi Elisheva is writing for the entire school during her Sabbatical, which promises to be a very exciting program.
4. We will continue to enhance our Hebrew school experience with Karen's beautiful music.
5. We plan to have some shared programming with other synagogues in the area, and encourage our students to get to know each other.
6. We are looking at having an 8th grade class next year because we have so many students interested in continuing to be with each other in this setting. It might be a class that tutors younger, struggling Hebrew learners in the first section of the day, and then a drama club that would prepare a major theatrical performance twice a year as an evening fundraiser.

Many thanks for supporting me during this transitional year. I have loved working with all of you.

B'shalom,
Leslie

eScrip and more...

Does it matter to you that there is nothing in this section?
Do you care if the Ner Shalom community receives a donation from your everyday purchases? We budgeted for an income of $1350 from all these programs, enough to almost pay for our yearly electric bill. Unfortunately many of our Oliver's shoppers have not picked up their Communitysmart Card to continue their contributions and some Safeway shoppers have not renewed online nor provided their most up to date credit card numbers to e-Scrip, to name the two biggest reasons for our loss of contributions.

Are you not contributing because Ner Shalom and Dor Hadash are not the only ones you want to support? Most of these programs allow you to designate more than 1 program so why not split your tzedakah?

We cannot afford this loss of revenue, especially when it costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.

Not sure where you stand with all these programs? Give Michelle Marks a call at 778-6346 or e-mail her at Steven.Marks@prodigy.net and let her help you make a difference today.

Board News ~ President's Letter

For those of you who were there, the Casino Night Party was a grand evening. For those of you who weren't there, you have next year to look forward to. In the meantime, you could write a check to Ner Shalom for the amount you might have spent. This is our big fundraiser and it needs to make up for our budgeted cash shortfall. Kristi Pearson and Molli Nagel deserve solid gold medals for making it all happen in such a rich, beautiful and fun way.

Now Pesach has come and gone. Our community Seder was most special this year. Pam Pepper gets credit for the organization while our Rebbe Elisheva led us down the yellow brick road to freedom with tunes from the Wizard of Oz. Words telling the story were written by Lizann Bassham. The whole event was quite fun and delicious.

Please notice the schedule for our services. We are blessed to have the Shir Halev ensemble for the first Friday night service in June. Bella Bogart, our Cantor, will lead Saturday morning services in Sebastopol at Ariana's home (please call the office or Ariana at 824-5609 for directions). Our services are not like the services you grew up with, even though many of the melodies will be familiar. Try letting go of unpleasant memories of boring uninspired meaningless services in your past. Let go and let's move into a fresh approach toward living in a shared sacred community.

Respectfully submitted with love,
Ariana

COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Education Committee - Liz Hagen 829-3031

Finance Committee - Michelle Marks 778- 6346

Building Committee - Mark Cohen 792- 4368

Membership Committee - Sally Churgel 823- 0541

Newsletter - Pam Pepper 588-8824

Personnel - Barbara Lesch-McCaffry 585- 2291

Publicity Committee - Archie Lewinstein 795- 3493

Towards Building Sacred Community-Congregational Meeting

These are the days of counting the Omer, the days between Pesach (freedom from Egyptian slavery) and Shavuot when the Israelites together experienced G-D and accepted the Torah as their own.
This seems a fitting time for our twice-annual Congregational Meeting. The date is set for June 12 at 11:00am-1:00pm.

This will be a most important meeting. New officers need to be nominated and elected as our new fiscal year begins on July 1. Important committees need good people. We need YOUR support and guidance. Are you content with the way your synagogue is running? Would you prefer services at an earlier time on Friday or perhaps, not at all on Friday? Do you care if we ever have services? Attendance is so low as to question their value to our community. Two years ago our community decided to drop our Rabbi from a ¾ to a 2/3 position while we built and strengthened our community. Many years ago we committed ourselves to our building when we planted our roots in Cotati. However the money to fund these endeavors is falling short with few members stepping up to the plate to help invigorate and enlarge our community. We face some tough choices. It is imperative that we adjust our positions on these issues to fit into our shoes. As members of a Reconstructionist congregation, we are not mere observers, but active participants at the very center of our Jewish communal life. The essence of Reconstructionist Judaism is community building through learning, revitalization of prayer and mutual help.

We do not ask for your first- born child as we recently recalled during Pesach. This is not rocket science. Please join with other members of our congregation for a couple of hours to attend to the housekeeping of our sacred community.

Community Announcements

Ongoing Toy and Book Drive for Free Clinic
Donations of gently used toys and/or books can be brought to Free Clinic on ongoing basis at 421 E. Cotati Avenue, Suite C, or call 792-1932.

Creativity Kabbalah with Izzy Green & Michael Gest
Summer meetings of the Ner Shalom study group will occur in a private home in Sebastopol. Click onto our website for more information. nershalom.org

Executive Director position at the Jewish Community Free Clinic needed.
For more information, email us at www.jewishfreeclinic.org or call 792-1932.

ASK JCI & R
JCI&R has information to share regarding socializing, schmoozing and support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families. Please call us for referrals to:
. Social happenings and synagogue chavurot
. Support groups for families
. Services for LGBT seniors
. Adoption questions
. Parents of LGBT Jews "PFLAG"
. Scholarship fund for children of LGBT parents
. LGBT organizations and projects in Israel
. Volunteer leadership
. Complementary DVD: Out of the closet and into the Streets of Tel Aviv, a peek at freedom and acceptance in the Middle East

For more information about connecting to Jewish life, call JCIR 415/777-4545 or local toll-free in the Bay Area 877-777-JCIR (5247) or e-mail Info@JewishNfo.org

Jewish Community Information and Referral is a service of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma counties. Visit our websites www.JewishNfo.org and www.jholidays.org Please join us at Israel in the Gardens, Sunday-June 5, 2005 www.israelinthegardens.org

Casino Night Thank-Yous

The auction was a successful evening and everyone seemed to have a great time at the casino. It was a really fun way to support our synagogue!

Kristi Pearson & Molli Nagel as auction chairs would like to thank all you who came, spent money, ate, drank and hopefully gambled the night away. We have a list of people who helped us with this event and want to thank you all individually.

First and foremost, we want to give Liz Hagen a big hug and thank you for her many hours of single-handedly putting together a fabulous and fruitful buffet--from the "vegetable fountain" to the delectable desserts. She had some great help that evening from Leslie Gattman, Ellyn Lazar and our teen group.

Let me say a word about our teens, Jenna Lepley, Joelle Hagen, James Nagel & Ryan Davis. What a great group of hardworking, mature kids. They did everything! Thank you! You deserve more than 6 hours of community service.

The auction night ran so smoothly and was so beautifully set up thanks to Peggy Tourje and Jane Krensky, our in- house auction coutures! In addition, Jane was fabulous as our Live Auction MC.

We had "the best" auction items thanks to Dan Williamson, Ariana Elster, and Anna Ghandour, who spent hours on the phone and on foot soliciting items. We also want to thank all the businesses and members who solicited and donated items. We had some beautiful Dor Hadash baskets thanks to Margo Norman, Leslie Gattman and all the students who brought in items.

Our synagogue was transformed into a casino paradise complete with a Bistro dining area and "Jack's" bar, thanks to the very hard work of Sherry & Natalie Rubin, Nancy Rapp, Ari Wang'oo, Ariana Elster, Liz & Joelle Hagen, and Molli & Annie Nagel.

People were greeted at the door of the casino so graciously thanks to Pam Pepper, Karen Mitchell, and Myrna & Marvin Rogoff.

"Jack's" bar was set up and manned all night by Randy Hagen, George Triest and Wayne Rapp. Good work guys and thanks a million!!
A big thank you to Dan Williamson and Mark Cohen for supplying us with some great wine and beer for the evening.

To keep us supplied with "Funny Money" and raffle tickets all night we thank our "Casino Cashiers" Helene Steinlauf-Norwitt, Diane Ventre and Barbara Davis. We also want to thank Michelle Marks for her financial help and support before and after the auction.

The closing of the auction at the end of the evening went smoothly thanks to the two "wonder women", Jane Krensky and Peggy Tourje, and to Sherry & Natalie Rubin, Ari Wang'oo, and all the teen "runners". Thanks to Tama Rama and Ariana Elster for picking up the machine to allow for credit card purchases.

At the end of any wonderful evening there is always the mundane task of cleaning up. Anne Woods, after shooting pictures all night (check out Ner Shalom's website), stayed until the doors were locked making sure the synagogue looked good for religious school the next day. We also want to thank Michael Policar, Sherry & Natalie Rubin, Molli & James Nagel, the Hagen family, AJ Levis, Emily & Jenna Lepley, Ari Wang'oo, Ariana Elster and anyone else I might have forgotten who stayed to clean up.

We couldn't have done this event without a lot of beforehand help from Carol Vanek, who collected all the mail, did the RSVP follow-up, fielded calls and was an all-around great help. Thank you so much!

Also, you and most of Sonoma County heard about our "Casino Night" Auction thanks to the great PR work of Karen Pierce Gonzalez and the help of Archie Lewinstein (a man who wears many hats). Karen even got us listed in the pink section of the Chronicle! Great job!!

After all this work you are wondering--did we make any money? Yes we did. After expenses we will net just over $5,000 and 10% of our final net will be donated to the Jewish Community Free Clinic. We are grateful to all of you who attended the auction but feel we could have attained a much higher goal had the attendance been greater. We hope that next year will be a greater success and that the congregation will give us feedback on whether they feel a "Casino Night" should be repeated or to go back to the "Catskills Cabaret". The bottom line is to support our synagogue and the best way to accomplish that feat.

Thank you for your support!
Kristi Pearson & Molli Nagel - Auction Chairs

Etz Chaim ~Tree of Life

Etz Chaim - Tree of Life
Our Tree of Life in the Oneg room began as a way to thank those in our community who worked so hard to establish our permanent home in Cotati.
It will now be used to help Ner Shalom continue to flourish through the celebration of life events. A simcha leaf to honor a special life event and a pomegranate to commemorate the seeds of our community's hard work, our B'nai Mitzvahs, can be obtained through a donation of 10 Chai or $180 To mark your special occasion with a simcha leaf or pomegranate please contact the office.

Donations Make a Difference!

Donations to Ner Shalom Make A Difference!

*Building Repair Fund
*Dor Hadash School
*Etz Chaim (Tree of Life)
*General Fund
*Music Fund
*Rabbi's Discretionary Fund
*Teen Fund
*Tikkun Olam Fund
*Written Word/Torah Fund
*Waldman Challenge Fund

Honor some one; remember an event or a special person. Donations (minimum of $6 {1/3 Chai} per listing) will be listed in the Gifts of Light section of the next newsletter. Send the donation to the office with the appropriate designation or call the office at 664-8622 for more information. Your generous support of Ner Shalom is greatly appreciated.

Memorialize the memory of a loved one with a Yahrzeit Plaque on our Wall of Remembrance. The cost of a plaque and inscription is $200 Please contact the office at 664-8622 for more information.

Newsletter Guidelines

*1. Deadline will be at 2:00p.m. on the first Friday of every month (unless arrangements have been made with the editor of the newsletter.)

*2. All submissions should be sent to the editor via e- mail with the subject heading: NL submission.

*3. Editor will change, edit, or delete any or all portions of submission(s) as deemed necessary without prior approval of the author.

*4. Editor is not responsible for retrieving submissions from other sources. It is the responsibility of the author to submit all necessary components to the editor by the deadline.