march 2008 ~ adar1 - adar2 5768

in this issue
-- Rabbinical Support During Transition
-- Gifts of Life
-- News from Dor Hadash Religious School
-- Board News
-- Birthdays and Anniversaries ~ March
-- Community Announcements
-- Yom Hashoah ~ Sunday, May 4
-- Donations Make a Difference!
-- A Message from Reb Tsvi Bar-David
-- eScrip and more...
-- Jewish Family and Children's Services
-- Newsletter Guidelines

Chevre and Friends...

"What Do You Want to Do For The Rest Of Your Life?"
A women's group is in the process of being formed. Please join us for our first meeting on Sunday March 9 at 10:30am
to share a cup of coffee, a bagel and talk.
Contact Myrna Rogoff at (707) 538-3502.

Friday, March 14 ~ Kabbalat Shabbat will focus on families dealing with disability.

Saturday, March 15 ~ 10am ~ Shabbat Morning Service - preparing for the Joy of Purim

Thursday, March 20 ~ 6pm ~ Purim ~ reading of the Megillah of Esther

For more detailed information about our services, please contact the office at 664-8622 or e-mail Reb Tsvi at tsvi@bardavid.net

Rabbinical Support During Transition

Rabbi Ted Feldman of B'nai Israel Jewish Center in Petaluma will be providing rabbinic support to our congregation during this transitional period. If any Ner Shalom member is in need of spiritual counseling or rabbinic support for a life cycle event please feel free to contact him directly at 707-765-2937. We are very pleased and honored that he has agreed to assist in serving our community and hope this will also create ties with the members of B'nai Israel.

Gifts of Life

MEMORIAL DONATIONS...

ARIANA ELSTER, a donation in memory of Helen McIlhattan and Aaron Goldman
LIZ and RANDY HAGEN, a donation in memory of Richard Simkover

OFFERINGS...

BARBARA and MICHAEL LESCH- MCCAFFRY, a donation in honor of Tsvi Bar-David

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS...

ANNA BELLE KAUFMAN of Sebastopol

News from Dor Hadash Religious School

Dear Chevre,

As we come into spring, we welcome the newness of all the blossoms. The children are our blossoms at Dor Hadash and they are blooming each week.

The 5/6 class have begun their B'nai Mitzvah tutoring classes with Margo Miller and we are pleased to say that Margo is very excited to be working with our students and is very impressed with how far along the students are in their Hebrew learning.

Rebecca, our 5/6 grade teacher is delving into more Hebrew conversation with the students and discovering how much they are really getting into it.

Sharon, our K-2 grade teacher is totally enjoying the little kidlets and teaching them the Alef Bet and all about G-d and what G-d means to them. Come and take a look at the classrooms in action! It's a wonderful environment for our children!

The wisdom of our youth ~

As promised last month, we asked the fifth and sixth grade students in Dor Hadash what was important to them about Dor Hadash, Ner Shalom and Judaism. We were impressed with their wisdom and hope that you will be, too.

Their favorite things to date include:

• learning to read Hebrew
• Purim festivals - and making noise when Haman's name is said
• selling Jewish items during the holiday
• cleaning up the Cotati Creek for Tu B'shvat
• throwing bread to the fish for our sins
• we're really nice to each other here - it's different than regular school
• it's small and comfortable
• it's cool to be different (Jewish) at school, but here it just feels that we are the same
• it was surprising, at first, to not be the only Jewish one

For a leader (teacher, rabbi, etc.) they appreciate somebody who:

• is fun and easy to understand
• does activities, doesn't just talk
• notices that other people are there when they talk
• gives examples of messages in the Torah portion
• doesn't just talk at us - asks us what we think

May we learn from the unfiltered love and honesty of our youth - they are the future of our families, our community, our congregation and our world.

Dor Hadash meets at 10 AM on the following days in March:

• Sunday, March 2
• Sunday, March 9
• Sunday, March 30

Many blessings,
Pamela Pepper, Education Committee
Shari Brenner, Education Committee

Board News

Dear Members of Ner Shalom,

Spring is just around the corner bringing the bounty of fresh new buds on the grape vines and orchards of our beautiful Sonoma County. To coincide with this event there has been some new growth at Ner Shalom. We now have a full complement of Board members who will be working hard to plant some seeds to bring forth bountiful crops of events, services and good food.

I would like to introduce three new members to our Board:
Anna Belle Kaufman who, along with her husband, are new to Ner Shalom and long-standing Ner Shalom members Barbara Lesch-McCaffry and Barkat Ferar.

In the next few weeks we will be forming some new committees chaired by these new Board members. We welcome and need your input and participation in committee work, so please join a committee or attend a committee meeting.

At our Board meeting on Thursday, Reb Tsvi provided an invocation prior to the start of our regular meeting which provided us with some spiritual sustenance for the tasks before it. A spirited and vocal gathering generated some interesting topics for discussion in addition to our agenda.

Our next Board meeting is Thursday March 27th at 7 pm in the Oneg Room.

B'shalom,
Jack D. Fender
Board President

Birthdays and Anniversaries ~ March

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

ART MALINAK ~ MARCH 3

Please e-mail Pamela Pepper p.pepper@yahoo.com with your birthday and anniversary dates so we can wish you a happy celebration!

Community Announcements

Shabbat Across America Comes to Sonoma County
Celebrate Shabbat Across America with Congregation Beth Ami, 4676 Mayette Ave., Santa Rosa, Friday, March 7, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. Rabbi George Schlesinger will lead a traditional Shabbat dinner with all rituals explained, and an interactive Friday night Explanatory Service, followed by Israeli dancing with a live band. Call (707)360- 3000 for dinner reservations and more information.

SONOMA COUNTY YOM HASHOAH MEMORIAL
As in previous years, a Memorial Book will be prepared in conjunction with the Yom Hashoah Community Commemoration, where members of the Community are invited to list the names of family members or friends who perished in the Holocaust. The 2008 edition of that booklet will be completed in time for this year's observance on May 4 and will be available to all members of the community along with yellow memorial candles which may be lit in the privacy of your home.

Those who have submitted names in the past, will be contacted directly, but all those who have not done so before, are invited to obtain a registration form from Carol Vanek in the synagogue office (or you can also obtain a PDF version of the form by sending an e-mail message to: alliance @sonoma.edu). The forms should be returned by no later than March 31st.

Yom Hashoah Community Commemoration, is scheduled for Sunday, May 4, 2 p.m. at the Friedman Event Center in Santa Rosa.

You Are Invited - Please Join Us
To learn about Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) and meet PJA's Bay Area Regional Director, Rachel Biale
When: Thursday, April 3rd 7:00-8:30 PM
Where: The home of Barbara Levinson & Eric Anderson
323 Boas Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95409
Hosts:Pam Adinoff, Bernice Fox, Carolyn Metz, Judi Rosenthal, Barbara Tobin, Barbara Tomin
Light refreshments provided
Come schmooze with old friends, meet new ones, and learn about the exciting new presence in the Bay Area that The Forward called, "... a new model for an aggressively liberal and unabashedly Jewish grass-roots urban activism."
PJA is a non-profit, inter-generational organization for people committed to social change. We are activists and academics, artists and businesspeople, agnostics and rabbis. Our goal is to educate, advocate and organize, and we are making a difference!
Please bring your checkbook; one of our goals is to sign up 18 (Chai) new members.
Individual membership starts at $36
Household membership starts at $72.
RSVP: Barbara Tobin, 829-2119, barbaratobin@juno.com
For more information about Progressive Jewish Alliance go to www.pjalliance.org

The Jewish Community Free Clinic is now accepting donations of toys and children's books. Please bring them to the Jewish Free Clinic located at 6307 Commerce Blvd., next door to Summit Bank.

JFCS RIDES hits the road to help seniors go to medical appointments, shopping, personal care appointments, and local community events.
Please check our website nershalom.org for more information.

OPEN YOUR HEART TO A WAITING CHILD
Sonoma County has a serious shortage of caring foster families.
Foster parents are needed for children and youth of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.
Please check our website nershalom.org for more information.

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation West Coast Region website: www.jrf.org/westcoast

ASK JCI & R...

Q: Farmisht, farbissen, fartumelt, farblondget, farpatshket ~ I remember the five Fs from my Yiddishe bubbe. Now I am ready to learn more Yiddish. Any suggestions?

A: Can you believe ~ We can recommend some excellent adult education classes and bands as well as private tutors and even Yiddish singing and dancing groups. And if it's just a word or two, we haimesheh folks at JCIR will give it a try.

For more information about connecting to Jewish life, or for your free copy of Resource/A Guide to Jewish Life 2008/5768 (which has a Yiddish section), call JCI & R at 415/777-4545 or local toll-free 877- 777-JCIR (5247)
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 at: www.JewishNfo.org or bayarea.planitjewish.com

Interested in an Interest-Free Loan?
The Hebrew Free Loan Association provides interest-free loans to Jewish residents in Northern California needing assistance with personal or financial matters.
For more information please check their website at: hebrewfreeloan.org

Yom Hashoah ~ Sunday, May 4

The theme of the Sonoma County 2008 Yom Hashoah commemoration on May 4 will be transmitting meaningful Holocaust memory to coming generations.

Featured guest speaker is Dr. Debbie Findling. Her topic will be building the connection between memory and action. Dr. Findling led March of the Living groups for ten years and is the co-author of the recently published Teaching the Holocaust. She is deputy director of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund of San Francisco, a major philanthropy that supports environmental activism.

Speaking for the Survivor community will be Sonoma county resident Miriam Dregey, a hidden child who survived through the actions of her family.

The program will include a candle lighting ceremony by camp survivors and participation by the next Jewish generation in a pledge of remembrance.

Community rabbis, cantorial soloists, and community musicians will contribute the liturgical and musical setting for the event.
The teen winner of the Suzy Raful Essay Contest will present the winning entry.

There will once again be a Memorial Book honoring victims of the Shoah remembered by the community. Forms will be distributed in February.

Yellow candles will be available at the event for private commemoration of the Shoah.

The public is invited to this annual event which will take place at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa on Sunday, May 4, 2008, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

Donations Make a Difference!

Donations to Ner Shalom Make A Difference!

*Building Repair Fund
*Dor Hadash School
*General Fund
*Music Fund
*Teen Fund
*Tikkun Olam Fund
*Written Word/Torah 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.

A Message from Reb Tsvi Bar-David

Dear members and friends of Ner Shalom,
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tsvi Bar-David and I am the interim spiritual leader of Ner Shalom.

I want to dedicate this electronic fire-side chat to the yearning and hope for inclusive, joyous, spiritual Jewish community that came out of a wonderful meeting of the Visioning Committee that took place at the shul on Sunday morning, January 27.

At least seventeen people attended this meeting and expressed their care for and their vision of the future of Ner Shalom. Jerry Green, co-chair of the Visioning Committee with AJ Levis, ably created an atmosphere that made it possible for everybody to give voice to their deepest vision for our community.

Jerry invited the board president of Ner Shalom, Jack Fender, to be the first to share his vision. Jack spoke how he wants the synagogue to continue as it has been going: egalitarian, Reconstructionist, encompassing all aspects of sprituality, to be a center of Jewishness and community with a responsibility to reach out to all, Jew and non- Jew alike.

Pamela Pepper, co-chair of Dor Hadash, our Hebrew school, spoke lovingly of her 12-year history with the shul, how important it is to have this community and its school for our children and the importance that this synagogue be Reconstructionist. She spoke of synagogue as family, as a spiritual Jewish community. She described the joy and the oy of organizing a Passover seder for 170 people.

Barkat Ferar spoke about belonging to a welcoming community, which this one is. She also spoke of her interest in creating a Jewish renewal community here, that is, a community whose prayer services are alive with music that directly touches the heart. She wants a place where inner spiritual practice can be cultivated, open to Sufism, inter-faith work and peace work, a place where our children can cultivate their own spirituality.

Myrna Rogoff cautioned us "not to throw out the baby with the bath water" and to preserve traditional Jewish elements as we walk on our path. Judaism contains immense spiritual riches and practices that are the equal of any spiritual tradition.

Will Rogers, a member of the Board, asks for an authentic Jewish community, joined together in joyous sacred communion (experience) of the Divine. There are many ways to connect to G-d: music, dance, discussion, study, meditation and prayer.

Space does not permit this be a verbatim account of the meeting. But, I do want to finish my recollection of the meeting with the words of Sally Churgel, former president of the synagogue, who gave a very helpful definition of a Jewish renewal-style synagogue: Joyful Judaism! A place where one can bring one's personal passion to shul, wonderful music and dance. Inclusivity means open to all spiritual practices, including Buddhist meditation, Sufi dancing, and room for Halachic (Jewish Law) Jews as well.

I want to conclude this part of my chat with the big take-away: there is tremendous yearning, hope and energy for re-vitalizing and growing Ner Shalom - Hebrew for Light of Peace - as an inclusive, joyous, spiritual Jewish community with a commitment to life- long Jewish learning for adults as a well as for children.

May G-d's will and our will be one! Amen!

I want to add some good news. My friend and teacher, Rabbi Moshe Levin, spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid in San Francisco, has donated on behalf of his synagogue, 20 Hertz Chumashim (Jewish Bibles) in Hebrew and English with commentary. This will significantly enhance our ability to study Torah together, both at Shabbat morning services as well as on other occasions. Reb Moshe informs me that if we need another 20 chumashim, we are welcome to them. I am very grateful to Reb Moshe and Ner Tamid for their generous donation to Ner Shalom.

I hope to have the pleasure of communicating with you again in the near future.

B'shalom,
Reb Tsvi Bar-David

eScrip and more...

Do you need new tires or more for your vehicle? If you do, than check out the participating merchants in the eScrip (two are Big O Tires and Pep Boys) www.eScrip.c om and Communitysmart (such as McLea's Tire) www.communitysmart.com programs. All it takes is having work done at one of these merchants and then when you go to pay for it present your Communitysmart card or use your credit/debit card linked with eScrip. Its so easy to make your vehicle safe and provide a donation to your community.

eScrip shoppers please make sure you keep your credit/debit cards up to date. Just go on-line to www.eScrip.c om and check out "my escrip" to see what your expiration dates and card numbers are on their records.

Oliver's and about 9 other markets belong to the Communitysmart Card program. Oliver's shoppers please note this major change!! To join this program you can: instantly join by asking for a card at Oliver's checkout counter; call COMMUNITYsmart at 568-4995 or go on-line to www.communitysmart.com. When you check out at one of the participating merchants, you slide your Communitysmart card just like a debit card to get credit for your transaction. This program requires that a certain minimum be spent but then we receive a greater rebate (for Oliver's you need to spend $25 for a rebate of 5%).

Albertson's shoppers can participate by connecting your blue and white Preferred Savers card to Ner Shalom by going to www.Al bertsons. com or using a tan and white Community Partners card Anna can provide you.

Raley's users just need to obtain a Raley's partner's card from Anna and activate it through their website (Raleys.com). Using the card without activating it for Ner Shalom will leave those rebates in suspense.

Not sure where you stand with all these programs? Give Anna Ghandour a call at 584- 4829 or e-mail her at huskyanna@yahoo.com and let her help you make a difference today.

Jewish Family and Children's Services

See our website for programs and classes listed for March at JFCS in Sonoma County.

All low-cost/ no-cost JFCS and Parents Place programs listed on our website are non- sectarian and open to all members of the public.

Newsletter Guidelines

1. Deadline will be at 2:00 p.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.

Contact Information

email: p.pepper@yahoo.com phone: (707)664-8622 web: http://www.nershalom.org