YOU DID IT!

You helped create a great mitzvah! We were able to raise the entire $1,400 we needed to help our dear friend Carl Cook & Project Save to feed 300 homeless men on Christmas day at the Men’s Emergency Shelter downtown. Your Beth Israel Youth Group (and some of you as well), will also be volunteering from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm that day to cook, clean and serve.

Thank you again for all of your wonderful generosity!

David Rosen
Youth Group Advisor & High School Educator

Saturday, November 5, Our first Celebrate Shabbat of the school year!  9:30am Coffee, Nosh and Schmooze; 9:45am Lessons with the Rabbi; 10:45 am Worship Service; Noon Potluck Luncheon, bring a Dairy dish to share with others.

Reminder there is Cosmic Bowling for the High School students:   8pm to midnight.

The Saltzman Youth Panel was established, through the Maurice Saltzman Youth Grant Program of the Federation, to educate younger members of the Jewish community about the importance of Jewish communal decision-making, the philanthropic process and responding to Jewish and general community needs.

The Maurice Saltzman Youth Grant Program of the Jewish Federation was established in Spring 1998 by Shirley Saltzman and her family.  The program perpetuates the goals of the late Maurice Saltzman, a past president of the Jewish Federation, who cared deeply about educating the next generation of Jewish community leadership.

The 2012 Saltzman Youth Panel consists of 40 area high school juniors and seniors who were selected through youth group advisor, rabbi and religious school director nominations as well as from at-large applications.  Working together, panel members will make important decisions as to how to spend $50,000 to improve the Jewish and general communities.  The panel brings together Jewish students of different backgrounds to learn about the philanthropic process, responding to community needs and most importantly, tzedakah.

Mazal Tov to our future community leaders!

Enid, Susan and Barbara want you to save the following dates for the interesting programs we are planning:

Wed., January 11, 2012:  Enid and Barbara will talk about their trip to Chautauqua this summer to hear Anat Hoffman, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center, which works for equality, social justice, and religious tolerance in Israel, and we will see the DVD In Her Voice about The Women of the Wall.  (If you would like to host this evening, please call Susan or Barbara.)

Wed., February 29, 2012:  To help us prepare for our Women’s Seder; we will be talking about moving along on our personal journeys.  Rhoda Rosen will be our host for the evening.

Thursday, April 12, 2012:  Our sixth annual Women’s Seder!

Wed., June 13, 2012:  Our program is called Daughters of Abraham, and we hope to have conversations with our spiritual sisters of Islamic and Christian faith.  (We have not named a location for this evening program.)

Artist Paul Palnik will lead us in creating a giant photo collage which will highlight the history and diversity of our Temple family.  He will then turn it into a permanent piece of art for our Temple.  In order to do this, we need you to bring in photos, of you your family and your ancestors; photos of Jewish life on the West Side of Cleveland,; photos of parties, dinners, bar and bat mitzvahs, old class photos.  You can drop them off at Temple, mail them to Temple, or drop them off at High Holiday services.  (Note: no one gets their photos back).  Then come to Temple on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011 at 9:45am when artist Paul Palnik will put it all together with us!

Please join our Tot Shabbat community and celebrate both Shabbat and Sukot .  Saturday morning October 15, 2011 at 10am.  Please let Bela Fischer know your plans for attending.  Belafischer@gmail.com

We learned about the four seasons, Shabbat and we traveled to the zoo!

Beryl Palnik is helping plan The West Temple Havdalah Picnic at Schwartz Road Park in Avon Ohio.  Chicken, hot dogs and drinks will be provided.  Please bring a non-dairy dish or dessert.  There is a playground on site.  You may wish to bring volleyballs, soccer balls, softballs/ mitts, or other sports items.  You may bring your own Havdalah set.  For more details see Havdalah Picnic Form

Since late fall and this past winter, many of the members of our congregation have come together to express their concerns and visions for a better Cleveland.  We met.  We talked.  We found that you have wonderful ideas for congregational action and insightful suggestions for local concerns.  We then shared our conversations with the larger Cleveland community.

And now, on Monday evening, June 6th, at 7:30 p.m., at the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland, the Founding Assembly of the Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) will convene and share our issues with the leaders of Cleveland — and formally begin our work to help make Cleveland the best it can be.

Please let me know if you can attend – we’re hoping to bring a contingent of 18 from our congregation… We can meet at temple (at 6:15 p.m.) and drive together…

Along with our Social Action committee co-chairs, Barbara Feldmar and Laurie Levenson, I thank you for your past participation and look forward to bringing our Social Action agenda to life.

For more information contact Rabbi Lader (eclader@aol.com)