Women’s Seder Reaches Year Five!

Circle of Friends held our fifth annual Women’s Seder on April 25^th, and following the trend of previous years, it was bigger and better.  We expected 49 women, but we were plagued by bad weather, keeping some away.  Never-the-less, 41 came, including some east-siders and Ellen Pill, a member of the Wooster congregation.  The planning was done this year by a group who volunteered, including Rabbi Enid Lader, who led us in the music and Miriam’s Dance, Jessica Sackett, who again coordinated all of the wonderful food, Susan Wagner, Shosh Ault, Dee Lazarus, LesleyWatilo, and Barbara Schwartz.  Planning is open to anyone who would like to help, so watch for our notice next year.

What made this night a little different from previous years, started with the creative inspiration of Rabbi Enid.  She began Circle of Friends in 1996 as a women’s Rosh Chodesh group to provide spiritual support to several members stricken with breast cancer.  Since that time, Circle of Friends has continued to provide spiritual support to the women of Beth Israel in sickness and in health.  In March, we held our regular meeting at The Gathering Place in Westlake, which provides support to individuals and families touched by cancer.  Beryl Palnik is an active volunteer there, and they have provided support to members of our congregation.  They do not charge fees, but rely on donations, and it seemed to be a meaningful choice as this year’s seder tzedakah project.  As I write this, we have collected $300 and expect it will be closer to $375 with additional donations still coming in.  To help raise money, two guests from previous years were so inspired by what we do, that they donated six lovely items of pottery of their own creation to raffle off.

Inspired by the Pink Glove Dance on YouTube, Enid suggested we create our own version, by tweaking our tradition to become the “Pink Ribbon Miriam’s Dance with the Sacred Schmattah.” We hope to have the video of this posted on Beth Israel’s web site.  While we won’t get thousands of hits on YouTube, it makes for a great Beth Israel “home movie.”Miriam\’s Dance at BIWT

What makes this a truly inspirational event is that everyone shares in its creation, everyone participates, and everyone (thank goodness) helps clean-up.  Come next year to be inspired!

Here are photos taken during the seder we hope you enjoy them.

Monday April 11th our Hebrew School Students learned to make Matzah, just in time for Passover.

4 Special events to help us make the holiday meaningful and joyful.

Sunday April 3 and 10th Seder Plate Decorating (you will have your plate back before Passover)

Sunday April 10th Learn n’ Lunch begins at 10am All you ever wanted to know about Passover

Monday April 11th 6pm, Rabbi Yossi’s Matzah Factory all are welcome to make matzah

Sunday April 17th 11:30am Wold Cultrue Day- Beth Israel Style, explore Passover charoset as it is made around the world

Call the office to tell us you’ll come 216-941-8882

Thanks to David Neumann for alerting me to this.

Click on this site and if you have an Adobe Flash Player installed, you’ll be able to see it, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awl1KCo_oZ0

How do we actually ‘celebrate’ a holiday that only occurs every 28 years? A holiday that seems to require only the shortest of attention spans. A holiday that needs a clear, blue sky to be simply, ‘perfect’. Well, for most Jews, it is a holiday ignored. But, is is a holiday certain to bring Joy. And, it is a holiday which surely makes us appreciate Mother Nature. The holiday is called Birchat HaChammah. It requires the sun to be in the exact place in the sky where it rested on the Fourth day of Creation as described in Bereshit. That’s right. We know where the Sun rested above our earth on Wednesday, March 26 of Hebrew Year 1, aka. 3760 BCE. Thus, it is a day to celebrate the Creation of the Sun. It is also a day to remember all that we need to continue to do to make sure the air and water and earth remain safe for all living beings. The prayer is short and simple: Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who performs the act of creation. The timing of the holiday is extremely rare – falling on the day before Pesach is a rare event, having occurred only three times since creation. It is a mitzvah to be able to bless the sun on this fortuitous day. Because we were redeemed from Egypt on Pesach, to say the blessing as we are preparing for departure from slavery, suggests that God is preparing us for something related to redemption, renewal, and creation. So, Wednesday morning, before we embark on the day, lets join together to say the simple prayer – thus a day filled with prayer and family.

– Peter Sackett