Congregation Ner Tamid newsletter, January 2000

CONGREGATION NER TAMID THE REFORM JEWISH SYNAGOGUE OF LAS VEGAS . . . A SPECIAL PLACE TO BELONG JANUARY 2000 - VOL. XIV NO. 4 SANFORD D . AKSELRAD Rabbi B E L L A FELDMAN Cantonal Soloist DREW L E V Y President NEAL SCHUSTER Student Rabbi 23 TEVET - 24 SHEVAT 5760 MONTY E . W I L L E Y Executive Director JACQUELINE FLEEKOP Education Director Lois BERGMAN Preschool Director MELANIE GORMAN Program Director CNT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE A recently formed committee has been hard at work at Congregation Ner Tamid to look into the future. The Long Range Planning (LRP) committee has been meeting since September to work on planning exercises, forming subcom-mittees, drafting a CNT mission state-ment, and learning all about long range planning at a retreat lead by Rabbi Alice Dubinsky of the UAHC. The com-mittee was chosen to create a five-year plan for CNT and is made up of a diverse group of members representing various ages, genders, years of mem-bership, residential locations, marital and parental status, active and inac-tive participation, interfaith needs, and so on. The members of the committee are: Jack Bulavsky Nadlne Cracraft Lois Doctors Sandy Ewan Cecilia Friedman Robin Greenspun Jerry Gordon Stuart Kallick Maria Letizia Rita Malkin Michael Mehr Adrlenne Miller Scott Ober Chris Roth Gil Shaw David Stahl Bob Unger Mindy Unger-Wadkins David Wasserman Abby Wikler Stacy Yahraus Now that the committee has initiated its task, we need YOUR help. The next phase of the committee's work is to get input from approximately 90 members of the congregation as a whole. Some of you may have already received letters requesting your participation in a one-hour Focus Group on January 16 with Rabbi Dubinsky. There will be a total of 15 members in each group and Abbie Burke Scott Dockswell Joan Dunn Bernle Farrow Michael Geeser six groups throughout the day. The letter will ask for your attendance at a specific time to make sure we have the right mix of people in each group. So, if you receive a letter, PLEASE RSVP WITH A "YES!" This is a wonderful opportunity to get involved in an effort that will help pave the way for CNT's success for many years to come. Your participation means so much and will make a huge difference. In addition to the January 16 Focus Groups, our subcommittees may also be calling on you in the next few months for further input on specific topics. We have formed 4 subcommittees: Membership (including size, outreach and social programming), Youth (including programming, the religious school and preschool), Ritual (including worship and services), Facilities (including size, maintenance, and location). The LRP committee will work on the individual parts of the plan until next summer (both in committee and in subcommittees), then come together as a larger group to work on the financing and staffing aspects of making the whole plan a reality. If all goes as scheduled, a final document will be ready to send out to the congregation next fall. If you have any questions about the process now or throughout the year, please call Mindy Unger-Wadkins at 873-1956 or Monty at the Temple office at 733-6292. And, should you run into any of the committee mem-bers listed above, please take a minute to let us know your thoughts and insights to the future of our "special place to belong." Scoop on in! for those of you attending the betotoie f riedrtan concert at The Orleans on Sunday, Oanuary 9, we have an extra treat for you! The Orleans Hotel is hosting a FREE ice cream social after the concert. Please hold on to your ticket stubs for adnission and join in the fun! . x s i a s Worship Services 2 Rabbi's Message 2 Message from our President 3 School News 4 CNT Preschool 5 January B'nai Mitzvah 6 Adult Education Opportunity 10 Board Profile 11 New Member Welcome 14 Board Beat 16 Birthdays/Anniversaries 17 Tributes 18 Yahrzeits & In Memorium 20 (the Bulletin is published monthly) c / <Speeiul rf)lttee t7o (Belong. 'Worship Services Conducted by Rabbi Sanford I). Akselrad & Cantorial Soloist Bella Feldman JANUARY 7 TOT SHABBAT 6:30PM NEW MEMBER SHABBAT W/ADULT CHOIR 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD JANUARY 14 N T T Y SHABBAT SERVICES CONDUCTED BY N T T Y MEMBERS 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD JANUARY 15 MOLLY WAGMEISTER BAT MITZVAH 10AM TOR AH STUDY 10AM KIDDUSH SPONSORED BY SAM & LESLIE WAGMEISTER JANUARY 21 SINGLES SHABBAT 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD JANUARY 22 BEN HERRING BAR MITZVAH 10AM TORAH STUDY 10AM KIDDUSH SPONSORED BY CRAIG & JUDI HERRING JANUARY 28 TRACEY STODDARD BAT MITZVAH & TIM STODDARD BAR MITZVAH 7:30PM TORAH STUDY 10AM ONEG SPONSORED BY BETH STODDARD & LISA STODDARD JANUARY 29 ROBERT FRIEDMAN BAR MITZVAH 10AM KIDDUSH SPONSORED BY THE FRIEDMAN & SCHAFLER FAMILIES Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the famous scholar and teacher, wrote a classic book entitled The Sabbath. In this book, he pre-sented the thesis that for the Jew, the Sabbath was really a "palace in time." That one sev-enth of our lives were to be spent not merely "resting," but sanc-tifying time and God. The Sab-bath was God's vehicle for allowing us to have a taste of the world to come, without hav-ing to wait until the "end of days," the messianic period. Heschel's concept of time is one that I have always treasured. Whether I am thinking about the Sabbath or about another sa-cred time in my life-a wedding, a Bris, a baby naming-l know that part of what is occurring is that through the power of ritual, I and all those who are present are indeed sanctifying time. We are taking ordinary time-that which we take for granted-and placing special focus on it. We allow that time to enter into our lives unlike any other, and it be-comes both memorable and holy. There has been a lot of talk about the "new millennium" and what it actually means to us as Jews. The reality at first glance is, very little. After all, we have a differ-ent calendar altogether. It is not the year 2000 which counts time according to the birth of Jesus, but rather 5760. We count our time since the cre-ation of the world. Our notion of time is in reference not to a specific human being but to the biHh of the world and God's cre-ation. We may not take the notion that the world was creat-ed 5760 years ago literally for this concept to still have signifi-cance in our outlook on life and time. The point of Judaism is to teach us that time is precious, lim-ited, and can be used to create the beauty of an entire world. And as partners with God, it is our duty to use our time to continue the task of creation. To shape the world in God's image and to live in the world in such a way that our time is well spent. The focus though on "the new mil-lennium" does affect us in some-ways. Obviously we do not live in a vacuum. There is for us and our fellow Americans a tremendous sense of anticipation as to what the next century will bring. Y2K fears aside, people in general are looking forward with awe as to what will be discovered and invented in the decades ahead. It truly will be an exciting time to live in. And for us as Jews, we can use this excitement and anticipation as an-other way to sanctify time. While Rosh Hashana may nave given us a chance to make our new year's resolutions, January 1, 2000 will give us a second chance to re-think what we have promised and to look over what we have accom-plished. We can, in other words, revisit our lives and how we spend our time. Mau the months ahead be for you ana yours good ones, filled with much joy and happiness. Mau our time together De filled with the preciousness of friendship and a world brought closer to peace and harmony Decause of our col-lective efforts. Then truly shall the time we spend here on earth be holy. B'shalom, (KaB6i Sanford $J(se[rad m CoiSQREQA TTON NER TAM'KI JANUARY 2 0 0 0 TEMPLE BOARD MEMBERS DREW LEVY STEWART BLUMENFELD SCOTT STOLBERG HOWARD LAYITIR IRA SPECTOR JUDY CORNET LYNN SASSO SYLVIA BEIJ.ER DAVID STAHL RUTH URBAN MEL HALLERMAN RITA GOLDSTEIN FRANCES KLAMIAN JACKY ROSEN LEON MARCO JERE' DAVIS ESTHER SALTZMAN SHARNA BLUMENFELD MINDY UNGER-WADKINS SANDY STOLBERG STEVE JOSEPH STUART KALLICK T B D SANDY PITTLE BOB UNGER JERRY GORDON CAL LEWIS EILEEN KOLUNS KENNETH SCHNITZER DR. DAVID WASSERMAN DR. STEVE KOLLINS MICHAEL CHERRY DR. BERNARD FARROW EUGENE KIRSHBAUM* RABBI SANFORD AKSELRAD President VP Administration VP Ways <? Means VP Membership VP Religious Activities VP Education & Youth VP Member Activities VP Social Action Treasurer Secretary Trustee Trustee Trustee Trustee-Membership Trustee Trustee Trustee-Youth Trustee-Library Trustee-Bulletin Sisterhood Brotherhood NTTY TNT Golden Chai Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Past President Ex Officio ?Deceased SPEND APRIL I=OOLS DAY POOLING AROUND WITH YOUR TEMPLE FRIENDS! THE SOCIAL EVENT OF 7HE YEAR WILL BLI ON APRIL I " AT 6PM. WATCH THE BULLETIN FOR MORE INFORMATION! HOLD THE DATE! ESSAGE FROM OUR TEMPLE PRESIDENT T h o u q k i s FOR JUE NEW YEAR. IN CASE you Misssd IIHE NEWS, THE BOARCI of TRUSTEES AND BEIIA FEUIMAN, OUR CANTORiAl SoloiST, llAVE WORksd OUT A NEW AGREEMENT. BEIIA Will CONTiNUE AS OUR CANTORiAl SoloiST, WiTh AN Ad' jusTEd woiik loAd ANd schEdulE. WE hAVE CANCElkd OUR SEARCh fOR A NEW CANTOR ANd p u l U d OUR j o b pOSTiNQ fROM l l l E JoiNT CANTORiAl PlACEMENT COM' MissiON ol TITE AMERICAN COHERENCE of CANTORS. WE ARE VERy hAppy TO hAVE coiwplETEd i h i S PROCESS ANd l o o k foRWARd TO MANy woNdERful yEARS wiTh BEIIA ON TITE b i ' MAh ANd diRECTiNQ ThE MUSiC foR OUR coNqREqATioN. BEIIA is ON MATERNiry LEAVE, AT This TiME, EXpECTiNq TIHE biRTll of FIER SECONd c h i l d . W E AII w i s h ITER THE bEST ANd CAN'T WAiT fOR hER RETURN iN MARCh. Also, WE ARE VERY pRoud of OUR NTTY kids, ThEiR AdviS0RS, VOIUNTEERS ANd ThE PARENTS w h o hAVE bEEN WORkiNq s o liAnd ON TITE upcoMiNq CONCIAVE TIIAT WE ARE hoSTiNC, hERE iN LAS VEqAS. OV E R 2 0 0 NTTY MEMbERS fnoM ARouNd OUR REqioN w i l l BE IN LAS VEC,AS JANU' ARY 14ih TO 17TIT ENjoyiNq fsllowship, STudyiNq TORAh ANd ThE REfoRM MOVE' MENT, AND HAVINQ SOME fuN. This ITAS bEEN A MAjOR UNDERTAKINQ FOR OUR SMAII, buT dsdicATEd, qnoup of STU-dENTS. ThEy llAVE A C,REAT EXCiNNq WEEk' ENd plANNEd ANd I WANT TO THANK EVERyONE w h o hAS h s l p E d , iN ANy WAy, TO MAKE This WEEkENd A SUCCESS. BUT I AM SURE r h s y could STill USE SOME Ad' diiioNAl hElp, EiThER dRiviNq ThE kids AROUNd, hosriNq SOME kids iN youR hoME OR fEEdiNq ThEM. If y o u ARE AVAil' ABLE TO ASSIST NTTY, PIEASE CONTACT THE offiCE OR ESTITER SAITZMAN. ThEy w o u l d AppRECiATE iT. O N bshAlf of ThE BoARd of TRUSTEES ANd MySEtf, I w o u l d likE TO pERSONAlly iflANk OUR offiCE STAff foR ThE WONdER' ful j o b THEY CONTINUE TO do. DAy IN AND DAY OUT i h s y ARE TITERE foR AII of us. NOT TOO MANY coNqREqANTS REAlly kNow whAT qoES ON " b E h i N d TITE SCENES" iN TIIE TEMPIE offiCE NOR d o ThEy kNow i h E AMOUNT of TiME ANd EffORT pUT iN by ThESE dsdicATEd iNdividuAls. WhEThER ThEy ARE ANSWERiNq MEMbERS OR pRO' s p s c r i v E MEMbERS puESTioNS, doiNq ThE ACCOUNTiNq, TypiNq UTTERS ANd SETTiNq s c h E d u k s , qETTiNq MAiliNqs OUT OR jusT p U i N hARd WORk, OUR STAff CONTINUES TO MAkE SURE OUR TEMpU RUNS SMOOThly ANd pRopERly ON A dAily bASis. MoNTy kEEpS ThE STAff ANd VOluNTEERS VERy busy. W E , AS A boARd ANd A CONQREQA' TiON, c o u l d NOT d o iT WiThoUT EACh ANd EVERyONE of ThEM. I kNOW I AppRECiATE TIteIR focus ANd dsdicATioN. NEXT TiME y o u ARE AT ThE TEMplE, STOp by ThE offiCE ANd SAy ihANk y o u TO OUR STAff. CONqRATulATiONS TO Lois BERqMAN ANd i h E P R E ' S c h o o l . WE WERE A pilot SITE foR ThE C h i l d CARE RATiNq SysTEM STAN' dARds of CARE, AS pREpAREd by ThE UNi' V E R S i i y of NEVAdA'RENO, COOPERATIVE EXTENSION dspARTMENT ANd WE RECEiVEd AN EXCEIIENT RATiNq. ThE STudy foUNd us EXCEIIENT iN All AREAS ANd ThEy WERE VERy iMpRESSEd wiTh OUR ART d i s p U y s , STAff RATiO ANd OUR pOSmVE STAff/child iNTERACTioN ANd ThEy AISO likfid ThE WAy CREATiviTy WAS ENCOURAqEd ANd i h s WEII plANNEd NUTRiTiOUS SNACks. Lois ANd hER STAff dESERVE A ROUNd of ApplAUSE foR A j o b WEII doNE. KEEP up TITE q o o d WORk. LAST, but NOT IEAST, ihANk you TO ThE RAbbi ANd AII ThE VOIUNTEERS w h o hslpEd MAkE ihE DEbbiE FREidMAN CONCERT A sell OUT SUCCESS. This is ihE FIRST TIME WE hAVE WORkEd jOINTly WiTh ANOThER coNqREqATioN ON A biq EVENT likE This ANd iT hAS WORksd OUT bETTER ThAN EX-ptCTEd. This will bs A REAI TREAT foR OUR COMMUNiTy ANd A fuN WAy TO SpENd A SuNdAy AfTERNOON. SEE yOU ThERE. DON'T foRqET TIIE i c E ' C R E A M sociAl iMMEdiATEly f o l l o w i N q TIIE CONCERT. (Drew JANUARY 2 0 0 0 cA Special rPlace Qio rJielniii/ Religious School News A New Vision for Jewish Education Many, many years ago I was fold an educator is a user of knowl-edge open to new ideas and pro-grams. An educator is a person who finds a way to pass this knowledge to others who may need different methods to absorb infor-mation. The great challenge is teaching many people placed to-gether in an environment of learn-ing that learn differently. The environment of our students has changed since I began teach-ing. Two parents may be working, children may be living in two homes and there is an increase of inter-marriage. Due to the financial de-mands placed upon today's Earents, many do not provide ear- J Jewish education for their chil-dren. Some parents decide to wait until just before the B'nai Mitzvah age to join a synagogue and enroll in religious school. Jewish camps are veru expensive and although they offer a child a strong sense BREAKING las Vegas 200 teens are coming to CNT Friday, January 15 to discuss racism and how they can help erase it! Join us for services at 7:30pm. Look for a follow up article in Febru-arys Ner Tamid Bulletin. of connection to the Jewish peo-ple, many parents cannot afford this luxury. We no longer live in "Jewish Com-munities." Today we live Jewishly in secular communities. Our chil-dren need to be connected to a coalition of Jewish youth. Youth groups are educational and a non-threatening means of maintaining an active association with Jewish young people. It is the parent's responsibility to push, shove and take the abuse of a teenager who doesn't want to go to a youth group because it will all be worth it once they connect with other Jewish teens. Manu adults know how the memories of youth groups and camp have shaped their lives. In the computer age, students can find a connection to other Jews on the Internet. Teachers must encourage students to do research and learn from the Jewish web- HATE ON TV Is it there for you to see? Is it hidden in commercials, humor and stero typical shows? Has TV learned from the past or does it still allow HATE ON TV? J o in TNT for a special program in our social hall, January 22 a t 7:30pm. sites. We need to use the com-puter to our student's advantage. The students who come from an interfaith or divorced family or a shared custody environment can find additional educational support on the Internet. The system of Jewish education that prepared our youth only for Bar or Bat Mitzvah is no longer valid. We need to educate Jews for life. What will change in our education system in the next 100 years? We, the Jewish people have led the world in education and research and we have survived much diversity. We will be utilizing new methods to reach the youth to ensure "Our Future." Shalom, Jaclqe f f e e f y p MI1Z1/AM (DAy is February G>h. Tfease start saving good eCotfiing and toys and tzeda/qifi money to be used to buy diapers and baby jood as zuetfas non-peris fia6te foods. CoNQREQATiON NER TAMid JANUARY 2 0 0 0 CNT PRESCHOOL DECEMbER WAS AN EXCmNq ANd fuN'Mllsd MONTh fOR All ThE STudENTS ANd STAff of C N T P R E S C H O O L . WE AII woRksd VERy hARd pREpARiNq fOR OUR ChANU-KAH PROQRAM. OUR SUPERSTAR pRO' duCliOIN WAS CERI Ai N ly BROAdwAy MAIERiAl. W h o kNOWS whERE I^E CNT PRESchool PROduCTiON CoMpANy will qo FROM hERE? I WAS dsliqhTful TO ITEAR OUR IITTIE ONES SAy ThE blsssiNqs ANd siNq TITE TRAd'nioNAl ChANukAh MEIO-diES. OUR youNqsTERs AISO ENjoysd cookiNq ANd EATiNq LATkES, ANd SufqANOT. BOTII OUR MiTZVAh pROjECTS WERE VERy SUC' CESSlul. TllANk you TO All of ThE PAR' ENTS ANd yOUNqSTERS who pARTicipATEd (WE RAISED S 9 8 . 0 0 (OR TITE LSUKEMIA SoCiETy Of AMERiCA ANd WE CollECTEd MANy iTEMS foR NEEdy childREN iN LLTE ClARk CouNTy School SysTEM). RAbbi AkSElRAd REAd TliE RuqRATS ChANukAh STORy TO OUR STudENTS; whAT A TREAT TO hEAR ThE RAbbi REAd TO US, who kNEW ThE RuqRATS WERE JEwish? ThE youNq- STERS EACh pRESENTEd ThEiR PARENTS Wilh A loVEly hANd MAdE MAqNET WiTh ThEiR fiNqER pRiNTS AS liqhTS ON ThE MENO' RAh, AlONq WiTh bEAUTifully llANd CRAfl' Ed WRAppiNq PAPER ANd CARds. OUR STARS WERE AISO ON TIIE CIIANNEI 8 MoRNiNq NEWS AND Fox 5 EvENiNq NEWS siNqiNq AND DANCINQ foR CHANU' KAH (WE WERE VERy CUTE!!). OUR school WAS A pARTicipANT iN A pi-loT STudy ON bEhAlf of ThE C00pERATiVE ExTENsioN UNdER ThE AuspiCES of UNLV, ON C h i l d CARE RATiNq SysTEMS. This is A QUOTE fROM ThE lETTER WE RECEiVEd fROM ThE CoOpERATiVE ExTENSiON. " L o i s , iT WAS A plEASURE MEETINQ wiTh you ANd SEEiNq AII TIIE qood ihiNqs ThAT ARE qoiNq ON iN youR CENTER. WE fouNd you EXCEIIENT iN AII AREAS ANd WERE iMpRESSEd wiTh ihE EXCEIIENT ART diS' p k y s , yOUR qREAT STAff RATiO ANd ESPE-CiAlly ThE pOSiTiVE STAff child iNTERACliON. YOUR SNACKS WERE VERY NUTRITIOUS AND WEll plANNEd. ThE EducATioN ANd loNqEviTy of youR STAff help MAkE ihE fACiliTy OUTSTANd-iNq. HAviNq TWO RN's ON STAff is A dsf-iNiiE plus. By pROvidiNq pRofESsioNAl qROWTh ACTiviTiss iN'housE ANd hAviNq AN EfficiENT, EXpERiENCEd diRECTOR Also hslps TO MAkE yOUR CENTER OUTSTANd' iNq. OVERAII WE fouNd youR CENTER TO BE doiNq EXCEIIENT w o R k . " AloNq WiTh All of ThESE ACTiviTiES WE ARE plANNiNq MANy NEW pROjECTS, AS WEll AS SEVERAl fiEld TRipS fOR This MONTh of jANUARy. WE will bE CElEbRAT-iNq MARTiN LuThER KiNq's BiRThdAy. WE ARE Also qETTiNq REAdy TO do OUR SpRiNq plANTiNq foR Tu'BishAVAT. Of COURSE WE CONTiNUE TO IEARN OUR NUMbERS, IET' TERS, COIORS, shApES, pREREAdiNq ANd 3 AbovE: SiNqiNq A soNq foR Cold EN CllAi Top LEII: PERfORMiNq OUR CliANukAh PUy LELT: PRADICTINQ FOR OUR PUy MATh skills, AloNq wiTh Music, sciENCE, COMPUTER, ANd hiSTORy. WE ARE iN THE PROCESS of plANNiNq OUR K I N D E R C A R D E N P R O G R A M foR NEXT yEAR. This is A VERY lARqE uNdERTAkiNq, AND WE ARE WORKINQ wirli A VERY dili' QENT coMMiTTEE wiih JAcky ROSEN AND SCOTT STOLBERQ AT Ths hElM. OUR NEW pRESchool SEMESTER will bE STARTiNq This MONTh. WE hAVE MANy NEW STudENTS bEqiNNiNq ThEiR PRESchool Ad' VENTURE. WE hAVE ONly A VERy fEW SPOTS REMAiNiNq. If you hAVE A child OR qRANd-c h i ld bETWEEN ThE AqES of 2 Vl ANd 5 yEARS of AqE ANd WANT A QUAliTy SECU' IAR ANd JEwish EARly childhood EducA' TioN foR ThAT child, CAII AS AT ThE C N T offiCE 755-6292. Lois 'Bergman 2 0 0 0 CNT PRESCHOOL CALENDAR JANUARY 2000 Monday, January 3 SCHOOL RESUMES Monday, January 17 No School Martin Luther King Day FEBRUARY 2000 Monday, February 21 No School President's Day MARCH 2000 I\o School Holidays this month APRIL 2000 Monday, April 17-21 No School Spring Break Thursday, April 27 No School Passover (last day) MAY 2000 Monday, May 29 No School Memorial Day JUNE 2000 Friday, June 2 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL fcki JANUARY 2 0 0 0 cA Speeut! rf)la<e CJo rJ$elom/ SITAIOM! My NAME is BEN HERRINQ. I AM A SEVENlh QRACIE h0N0R STudENT AT SilvESiiii MiddU School WIIERE I pUy TRUMPET iN ThE bANd. My fAVORiTE ThiNqs iN TITE WORW ARE TO pb\y vidEO CjAMES ANd COMPUTER C,AMES. I Also like TO WRiTE pROC,RAMS fOR TNE COM' PUTER. I w i l l bE CAlkd TO TITE TORAIT AS A BAR MiTZVAh ON SATURdAy MORNiNq, JANUARY 22. I hopE you CAN joiN My fAMily ANd ME iN This SpECiAl OCCASiON. Wc Arc B'HAI MitrvAVi for flic CAlcnt>Ar V^CAR 2001. If vjou Arc planning or cxpcct to VIAVC A BAr/BAt MitrvAVi for \\our cVii1t> in 2001 ANB JLAVC not vjct rcccivcb A pAckct from flic officc, PKASC CAII the RAbbi's sccrctArvj, 1<Arcn Lcvinc At 733-6292. E 1 E E E 1 Hi! My NAME is Molly WAQMEISTER. I AM iN TI)E QRADE AT TIlURMAN WhiTE Middle School WHERE I AM ON THE HON' OR Roll. I p U y ThE TubA iN TliE bANd ANd I AM ON ThE BouldER CiTy/HENdER' SON SwiM TEAM. I will bE CAllsd TO ThE TORAII ON JANUARY 15, 2 0 0 0 . I CAN'T ThiNk of A bETTER WAy TO START ThE NEW MillENNiUM TIIAN WiTh fRiENds ANd fAMily ItElpiNq CSUBRATE My BAT MiTZVAh. My NAME is RobERT FRisdMAN. I'M IIAV' iNq My BAR MiTZVAh ON JAN. 29, 2 0 0 0 . I qo TO WARREN'WAII<ER S c h o o l . RiqhT NOW I 'M ON Ths school bAskETbAll TEAM. I 'M A biq fAN of bAsksibAll, fooTbAll, ANd EspEciAlly SNOwboARdiNq. My hob' biES ARE pUyiNq WAREIIAMMER 4 0 K wiTh MY UNCIE FRANL I AISO likE spENdiNq TIME wiTh My fAMily ANd My NEW bAby cousiN C i q i . H i , M y NAME is TRACEy SioddARd. I qo TO SilvESTRi JuNioR Hiqh S c h o o l . I likE TO dANCE, TAlk, WRiTE & pUy SpOIUS. My BAT MiTZVAh is IMPORTANT TO ME bECAUSE iT PAVES A ROAd TO liviNq A full ANd MEANiNqful J E w i s h lifE. My bROTh- ER ANd I ARE liAViNq OUR B'NAi MiTZVAh ON JANUARY 28, 2 0 0 0 , ANd WE would bE hoNOREd if you w o u l d joiN us. H i , My NAME is TiMOThy SETII STod' dARd. I qo TO SilvESTRi JuNioR Hiqh ANd I AM 14 yEARS of AqE. I loVE f00T' bAll ANd SOCCER. I AM PROUD TO bE-COME A BAR MirzvAh. My BAR MiTZVAh w i l l bE ON JANUARY 28, 2 0 0 0 . I will bE shARiNq ThE EVENiNq WiTh My SiSTER. WE w o u l d likE TO iNViTE EVERyONE TO joiN iN This iMpORTANT EVENT. CONQREQARION NER JAMid JANUARY 2 0 0 0 RAbbi JAy KARZEN. JERUSAIEM'S BAR MirzvAH KING. Will SpEAk AT CNT ON MoNdAy, FsbRUARy 7'\ AT 7:30pM, RABBI JAY KARZEN will IEACI A discussioN bASEd ON his book, Off TIHE WAII. TIHE book is A collEdioN of ANEcdoTES, STORiES ANd AbsuRd TidbiTS AbouT his EXpERiENCES pERfoRMiNQ BAR ANd BAT MiTZVA^S, WEddiNQS, AOld fuNERAls AT T!HE WAiliNq WAII. RAbbi KARZEN will AISO EXPIORE TITE iivipoRTANCE ANd MITZVAIH of bEiNq IrAppy, ANd how jEWish pEOplE CAN bE hAppy. HE will Also TAlk A blT AboUT MOViNQ iNTO TIIE YEAR 2 0 0 0 . If you wish TO PURCHASE RAbbi KARZEN'S book, IT will bE ON SAIE AT TIHE pROqRAM, OR you CAN PURCHASE iT, OR REAd EXCERPTS ONliNE AT WWW.TRAffoRd.COM/ROboTS/99'0012.hTIVll. Off TIHE WAII is ONly S I ? . ThE EVENiNq will bE C0-sp0NS0REd by NATE MACK GREATER LAS VEQAS B'NAi B'RITH ANd will bE fREE of chARqE. PIEASE CAII TIHE C N T officE, 755-6292 TO R S V P by FsbRUARy IS '. Biennial Briefing nnnmpnnpnonOtoo Ahead The 1999 Union of Ameri-can Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) Biennial Convention was held in Orlando, Florida from December 15,h-19th. Every two years, this conven-tion unites thousands of Reform Jews from across North America together for five days of worship, study, and cele-bration. Last month, several staff members and board members from Congregation Ner Tamid attended the con-vention. Rabbi Sanford Aksel-rad; Executive Director, Monty Willey; and Program Director, Melanie Gorman were present at the convention. The follow-ing board members also at-tended: President, Drew Levy; Vice President of Administra-tion, Stewart Blumenfeld; Trustee, Mel Hallerman; and Past Presidents Steve Kollins, and jerry Gordon. At the same time, the Women of Reform Judaism 42nd Assembly took place. Sandy Stolberg, Sister-hood President, and Debbie Hallerman, Sisterhood Vice President of Administration, attended that conference. Del-egates shared ideas with other Congregations and Syn-agogue leaders. Highlights of the UAHC Convention includ-ed a major address by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the UAHC, and a discussion of Ju-daism in Israel in the 21st Cen-tury by Alice Shalvi. Convention delegates also vot-ed on resolutions regarding: Lifelong Jewish Learning, Race and Criminal Justice, and Trans-forming Congregations. On January 21, 2000, at 7:30 Friday night services, Rabbi Ak-selrad will share his experi-ence at the UAHC Biennial Convention with the congrega-tion. Please feel welcome to attend the service and learn more about the convention. S c h o l A R ' i N ' RESidENCE SET FOR 2000! RAbbi RichARd AddRESS will be I I E R E FROM F S B R U A R Y 2"?iU'27'u, AS ihis Y E A R ' S ScholAR'iN'RESidENCE. HE will lEAd VARious pROCjRAMS TIHROUQIHOUT TIHE wEEkENd. RAbbi AddRESS is IFLE REqiONAl diRECTOR of TIHE UisioN of A M E R I C A N HEbREW CONqREQATiONS' PENNsylvANiA CouNCil ANd FEdERATiON of REfORM SyNAqoquES of G R E A T E R PhiUdElphiA. HE MAS bEEN iN This posirioN siNCE AuqusT of 1978. IN July 1997, hE WAS NAMEd ThE D I R E C T O R of TIHE N E W U A H C D E P A R T M E N T of jEwish FAMily C O N C E R N S ; A dEpARTMENT which is B R I N Q I N Q TOQETLIER TIHE WORk of A VARiETy of diffERENT U A H C pROqRAMS iN AREAS such AS: OldER Adulrs, BiO'Eihics, CliANqiNq JEwish FAMily, SubsTANCE AbuSE ANd Sslf D E S T R U C T I V E BEI I A V I O R , SpECiAl Nssds, A I D S , GAy ANd LEsbiAN iNclusioN, ANd ThE SyNAqoquE AS A CARiNq CoMMUNiTy. P I E A S E WATCIT NEXT MONTH'S B U I I E T I N foR MORE iNfORMA-liON AbouT ihE ScholAR'iN' RESidENCE pROqRAM. J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0 A Special rPUuf >7W rJielom/ w A U X I L I A R I E S & i i i i i i i i i i i sister^ xews i i i i i i t i i i i Get out your calendars and start marking the dates. There has been a change on the date for Speaker Mayor Oscar Goodman. The new date is Thursday night, February 3rd, at 7:00pm. Bring your friends, bring your family, this event is open to everyone. Come and learn all about our new Mayor. Sister-hood will provide coffee and des-sert. Please RSVP to the Temple office at 733-6292. Thursday, February 24th, Sisterhood will have a Clinique Skin Care Workshop. The time is 7pm. Please call the Temple office to RSVP. Once again I'd like to thank Rabbi Akselrad for the great book review on "To Begin Again" by Rabbi Naomi Levy. Everyone sure en-joyed Rabbi's insights. In March Rabbi will review another book for us, which will also be a luncheon, more details to follow. Congratulations go out to one of our nardest workers Phyllis Marks, Congregant of the year. Phyllis has work many hours in our kitchen and in the Norman Mark gift shop. I hope everyone will come to the Shabbat Service January 7*h to hon-or Phyllis. January is going to be a very busy month for Sisterhood. NTTY con-clave will be coming and Sister-hood will be preparing a Shabbat Dinner for 220-250 people. I know Frances could use a lot of help, if you would like to help in the kitch-en January 14'\ please call Frances at 454-0990. I hope all of you have a happy, healty, and prosperous new year! Shalom and thanks for all your support, Sandy Simcha Fair o Calling all photographers, caterers, and party planners, and anyone else who makes a living helping others celebrate that special day! CRT Sisterhood is planning the 3rd annual Simcha Fair a convention of sorts Tor families planning a simcha. whether it be a Bar/Bat mitzvah. a wedding or a bris. these families will need your help. JT you would like to receive information about securing a both at the Simcha lair, scheduled for Thursday evening, march 9th. please call Sandy Stolberg at 222-6263. Anyone who has used an exceptional vendor and think they should be included in the Simcha Fair, please let us know. CoHQREQATiOH NER TAMid JANUARY 2 0 0 0 A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO SOME VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY NETWORK On November 20, 1999, Con-gregation Ner Tamid's Interfaith Hospitality Network reached a milestone. We completed our tenth week in three years hous-ing and feeding our special needs families. The families of the Interfaith Hospitality Net-work. Many said this couldn't succeed. In spite of some nega-tivity, we knew in our hearts, it could and would succeed. How-ever, it takes a group of loving people to make a project a suc-cess. I am proud to say we did it!!! And now on to the next mile-stone of twenty weeks feeding and housing the IHN families. I have thanked you privately for all your help and now it's time to give you a big cheer of thanks in public. Whether you donated a lunch or money, cooked and served a dinner, slept over a night or two, held my hand, or made me smile, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your help was so enjoyed by our families. They were over-whelmed and truly grateful from the support of our volunteers. There is no way the Interfaith Hospitality Network Program, here, at Congregation NerTamid, would be able to function if it weren't for you. I want to share with our Con-gregation the ongoing support this program gets from these volunteers. I hope and pray I do not forget anyone. Bless you all!!! A very special thank you goes to my husband, STEVE GRATZ, who helps me every step of the way to make sure this program continues to be filled with digity and grace. You, my friends are the ones who will make a difference in this world. By doing this mitvah of feeding and housing the less for-tunate, we are feeding our need to change the world. Thank you again for all your time, effort and caring. RABBI AKSELRAD, jONI 8. FAMILY DREW LEVY, DEBBIE FAMILY BRAD FRIEDMAN DEBBIE HARRIS SIMON FAMILY STOLBERG FAMILY BOB UNGER FAMILY SPECTOR FAMILY F. GOLDSTEIN FAMILY ALES FAMILY MEL DEBBIE HALLERMAN JANIS 8. DREW ROUNDS SHERI COHEN AND COREY MARK AND JILL DRUCKER ALTERMAN FAMILY MICHAEL MEHR CYNTHIA ZEIDNER BOBBIE BERNAY AND L1NDSEY SALTZMAN FAMILY jOY RUBY AND SAMANTHA WILLEY NATALIE AND GIL SHAW KAREN AND MARV LEVINE JACKIE FLEEKOP JASON AND SALLY AND BRUCE SHAPIRO CHUNMAN RAIMIST AND SAM MAX1NE MOLINSKY AND BRADLY ALADAFF SCOTT DOCKSWELL JANET AND MAYER SCHLESSINGER YVONNE WEISS, ADAM 8. REBECCA KATHER1NE SCOTT AND SHAWN TJ COONS, MARSHA AND FAMILY NADINE AND JOE CRACRAFT SHARNA AND STEWART BLUMENFELD STEVE AND BERNICE DUNN DAVID APPLEBAUM VIC AND LORETTA HOLLANDER MARY AND MICHAEL ZONE BETTE AND DAVID STAHL DOTTY AND GENE HENKIN EVE AND SID MARCO BARBARA NATHAN LAURA UNGER BONNIE POMERANTZ MELANIE AND SCOTT GORMAN DAVID AND ROSAR1A MEREAUX DENISE WOLSON AND TIM CNT SISTERHOOD THE OFFICE AND CUSTODIAL STAFF THE HAVAROTS OF NERTAMID and ANYONE ELSE I FORGOT, YOU CONCLUDE MY CAST OF THOUSANDS. The next Interfaith Hospitality Network week is the week of February 13, 2000. If you would like to get involved, please call me at 898-3592 or email me at MaxinefromLV@aol.com If you have any gently used pil-lows, blankets, quilts, single sheets and/or pillow cases, please bring them to the temple prior to the next week we house and feed our IHN families. With the colder months coming, our families need that extra warmth while they are here as our guests. Happy New Year to one and all. Shalom, Marine JANUARY 2 0 0 0 c/f (Special opiate To (Belong. fldult education Opportunity Retreat Your Spirit, Revive Your Soul, Massage Your Mind fin entire weekend of living "in adult Jewish time ond space" is offered to members of our congre-gation at the Pacific Southwest Re-gional Kallah on the Shabbat weekend of April 28 to 30 in Ojai, California. If you have never been to a Kallah, this is your chance to experience the thrilling experience in an easily accessible location. This Kallah is a special retreat for members of Reform Temples in our region. Kallah is devoted to the revival of your soul within a Re-form religious community that com-bines all the spiritual excitement of adult Jewish living and learning. It is co-sponsored by our Union of American Hebrew Congregations UflHC and our Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUCJIR) Two spectacular scholars and a staff of rabbis, artists and musicians will help us explore THC FAMIIV STO-RKS OF TORAH, seeking