Interested In Jewish Food Justice?

April 7, 2012 in Community by clshafer | No comments

Do you have something to say about the food we eat at TBD? Join us at our first meeting of Just Food – TBD’s Response To Our Food Crisis.

April 11th at 7:30 PM

We will discuss programming ideas as we continue this important initiative at Temple Beth David

 

TBD Artist in Residence, May 11-13

April 7, 2012 in Community by clshafer | No comments

Dan Nichols, Sharing his music, stories and spirit.

May 11th

Join Dan and the TBD Family for Shabbat dinner (6:30 PM) and inspiring services (7:30 PM) followed by a special oneg sponsored by the sisterhood.  More information regrading dinner will be forthcoming.

May 12th

Join Dan, Rabbi Josh and Cantor Sara for Shabbat morning services and kiddush lunch sponsored by the Ritual Committee at 10:00 AM Saturday evening join us for a coffeehouse inspired musical event especially for our adult community.  Wine and cheese, coffee and desserts will be served. ($18 suggested donation)

May 13th

An event for the entire family as we have a Mother’s Day sing along and light noshat 10:00 AM

*The Artist in Residence weekend has been generously underwritten by:Sara and Larry Erwich in memory of their parents and Larry’s sister.

-And-

Michael and Hilary Rutberg through TBD connections

MITZVAH GARDEN DAY 2012

April 3, 2012 in Social Action by clshafer | No comments

Sunday April 22nd is Mitzvah Garden Day and coincidently, Earth Day.

In order to ready our Mitzvah Garden for the coming growing season, we need TBD volunteers to help rototill the planting beds, incorporate organic compost and fertilizer, test the irrigation system and if necessary make any repairs. The plastic mulch will have to be removed and replaced after the beds have been finished.

We need your help! A joint effort will assure we get our Mitzvah Garden ready for planting. Please bring your tools.*

Start Time: 9:00 A.M. till finish.  (Rain or Shine)

Sunday May 6th, we will plant carrot and beet seeds in two beds. Butternut and Acorn Squash seeds will be planted in peat pots and delivered to Growell Greenhouses. This will give them a jump start, before being transplanted at the end of May.

Start Time: 9:00 A.M. till finish. (Rain or Shine)

All interested TBD members should contact Larry Rosenfield.

*BRING YOUR METAL RAKES, SHOVELS, WORK GLOVES AND WHEELBARROWS

President’s Message

April 3, 2012 in Presidents Message by clshafer | No comments

Do you ever feel like a guest in your own home? I hope not. What a strange feeling that would be!  We say frequently that TBD is our spiritual home. And your fellow congregants are like an extended family. But is it my responsibility to ensure that everyone feels that way? Is it the Rabbi’s? Or do you have a shared duty in that as well?

When you live in a home and are part of a family, it is not enough, as many a housewife said in years past, to come in the door, put your feet up, and watch it happen all around you. We all need to take an active part in its maintenance, growth and development. We all have a responsibility to do the work to ensure our mission as a synagogue, one that promotes a meaningful Judaism for ourselves and generations to come continues. The more active participants we have at Temple Beth David, the stronger our community will be for prayer, tikkun olam, and for learning

Consider when was the last time you were at TBD helping with an event, took the lead on an task, suggested an adult program, convinced your teen to?  try our youth group, brought your little one to a pre-school event or children’s service? Most significantly, when you wished something was different, did you decide to be a part of making that change happen?

Financial commitment is of course vitally important. We all know that without it we could not even ask these questions. But think about whether that is all you do for your family. You are more than someone who just pays the bills. You are an integral part of your household, one that without your spirit, intellect, and active engagement would not be what it is.

Think about sharing even a small portion of what you give to your individual families to your temple family. The possibilities of what we can then do together are endless.

L’Shalom,

Mindy

Rabbi’s Message

April 3, 2012 in Holidays, Rabbis Message by clshafer | No comments

As I am sure you know, this year we are celebrating the first night of Passover as a community. There will be dozens of people in our social hall Friday night retelling the most famous story in the world. Our ancestors coming out of Egypt, the story of a people moving from slavery to redemption, has left an indelible mark on much of the world. Certainly, from the plagues to the splitting of the sea, the exodus narrative leaves few readers unimpressed. Yet, for the Jewish people, the exodus story is just the beginning of our narrative. Our ancestors, whose feet trudged through the split sea, took the first steps along our peoples journey, a journey from slavery to redemption that led our people to a very specific place.

Once our ancestors crossed the sea, they were headed to Mt. Sinai, the site of revelation. It was at Mt. Sinai that our people were truly redeemed, when we stood together, experienced the ineffable and received the Torah. Our tradition goes to great lengths to connect this moment at Sinai with the experience of redemption from Egypt. As rabbinic Judaism developed, following the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., our sages attached the wondrous moment of revelation to an agricultural festival that our ancestors had been practicing for generations.  Shavuot became a festival that celebrated the giving of Torah at Sinai and therefor a spiritually significant date on the Jewish calendar.

Following the first night of Passover, we begin counting the days until Shavuot. This counting is called sfirat ha’omer (counting of the omer). The omer is a unit of measurement used by our ancestors that denoted the amount of barley brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. Our ancestors would bring this unit of barley to the Temple up until the day before Shavuot. Today, even though the Temple does not stand, we still count the omer. Rather than making an offering at the Temple, we make a spiritual preparation for receiving Torah again at Shavuot. There are even mystically influenced booklets that help Jews focus on this spiritual preparation over the course of the forty-nine days of the omer. At Temple Beth David this year, I will be sending out an additional email each week with a spiritual reading to help focus that particular week of the omer. I hope that each person in the TBD community will take advantage of the emails and use the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot to prepare themselves for the awesome experience of receiving Torah once again.

— Rabbi Josh

Photos: Purim at TBD

March 23, 2012 in Holidays, Photos, Youth & Family by clshafer | No comments

Preschool Story Time and Social Hour

March 15, 2012 in Community, Youth & Family by clshafer | No comments

Since we’ve all been hankering a little Gefilte Fish, it must be time for Passover!  Please join us on Sunday, March 25th from 10-11am at Doolittle School (735 Cornwall Avenue, Cheshire) for our Passover themed program.  In this hour, we will sing songs with Rabbi Josh, enjoy a delicious (yet unleavened) holiday snack, and create a fun Passover craft.  Story time activities are appropriate for children from birth to age five, accompanied by a parent or other caregiver. Community participation is encouraged, so call a friend and invite them along!  To ensure we have enough materials for everyone, pre-registration is strongly encouraged.  Please email education@tbdcheshire.org to enroll, or call Elyse Krantz with any questions.

 

Social Action

February 28, 2012 in Social Action by clshafer | No comments

The Social Action Committee needs you! There are many exciting activities being planned right now for the next few months, and we would love your participation in any or all of them.

In March, in conjunction with the Purim Party for adults being held on March 3, we are collecting toiletries to be given to Jewish Family Services in New Haven. JFS is requesting soap, shampoo, hand or body lotion, razors, feminine products, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and dental floss. If you’ve got travel sizes from a recent trip, or there’s a great sale at the store, they will gladly take any toiletries in any size! Please bring them directly to the Purim Party or drop them off in the basket in the lobby at any time.

In April and May, there are two opportunities to help work in the Garden! On April 22, we will need lots of help removing and resetting the plastic and startingto till the beds. On May 6, we will be directly planting some of our new crops (carrots and beets!) and laying straw, as well as planting squash seeds in peatpots. Lots of help will be needed, and lots of opportunities for adults and kids! Please mark yourcalendars for either or both those days.

In June, TBD will be officially participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Cheshire on June 8-9. If you’ve never participated before, this is a wonderful event that raises funds and awareness for cancer research as well as a great community event. More details will be forthcoming shortly, and the Social Action Committee would love a couple of co-chairs to help with organizing our participation.

Please remember these events as we look forward to the months ahead, and please contact Marléna Soble with any questions or if you’d like to help any of theorganization or planning.

Thank you!

Sisterhood Shabbat Service

February 27, 2012 in Shabbat, Sisterhood by clshafer | No comments

Friday, March 30,  Sisterhood Shabbat Service, 7:30 PM. All ladies interested in participating in service please contact Eileen Geffin by March 1.  There are many parts available either in English or Hebrew, as well as non-reading participation, such as opening the ark.

Hamantaschen Workshop

February 27, 2012 in Holidays, Sisterhood by clshafer | No comments

Get ready, Purim is coming.  Please RSVP to Ann by March 1.  Dough and filling will be provided.  Bring  waxed paper, cookie tray, spatula, something that is 3-4 inches round in diameter to cut out shape in dough (drinking glass), and a container to bring home hamantaschen!

Sunday, March 4, Hamantaschen Workshop,  TBD Social Hall, 2-4 PM.

 

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