Congregation Ner Tamid newsletter, April 2000

CONGREGATION NER TAMID THE REFORM JEWISH SYNAGOGUE OF LAS VF.GAS ...A SPECIAL PIJ\CE TO BELONG APRIL 2000 - VOL. XIV NO. 7 SANFORD D . AKSELRAD Rabbi BELLA FELDMAN Cantorial Soloist DREW LEVY President NEAL SCHUSTER Student Rabbi 25 ADAR II - 25 NISAN 5760 MONTY E. WILLEY Executive Director JACQUELINE FLEEKOP Education Director Lois BERGMAN Preschool Director M F . L A N I E GORMAN Program Director Nazi Germany survivor, Karl Schnibbe, to speak at Yom HaShaoa Service The annual Yom Hashoah commu-n i t y - w i d e Holocaust memorial service will be held at 6:30pm on Tuesday, May 2 at Mid bar Kodesh Temple, 1940 Paseo Verde Drive. Karl Schnibbe, a Mormon survivor of Nazi Germany, will be the guest speaker. G e r m a n - b o r n in 1924, Karl Schnibbe is one of two of the youngest survivors of the Nazi resistance. This native of Ham-burg was an active member of his M o r m o n church ward when H i t l e r came to power. Karl Schnibbe grew up watching in-creasing militarism assert fear and control over residents there. Karl Schnibbe's story is one of incredi-ble hardships, a story of survival when life, to many, was a cheap commodity. Early in 1942 the Ge-stapo arrested Schnibbe and two friends for distributing literature that denounced the Nazi regime. Schnibbe was sentenced to five . i April 19 is CRT's Traditional Passouer Seder SEE PAQE 10 fOR MORE dETAils! years imprisonment. This was just the beginning of a grueling future. Liberated by American soldiers, having survived almost a decade of imprisonment and hard labor d u r i n g and i m m e d i a t e l y after World War II, Schnibbe emigrat-ed from Germany to the United States in 1952. In 1957, Karl Schnibbe became a United States citizen. Now, 76 years of age, Schnibbe and his wife reside in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Yom HaShoah service is open to everyone throughout the south-ern Nevada community and is held in remembrance of the Holo-caust. This family event is co-sponsored by the organizations and Synagogues of the southern Nevada Jewish community. A new framework this year will include the opportunity for every-one to light a Yizkor candle at the outdoor Yad VaShem Memorial; view a special exhibition of Neva-da c h i l d r e n ' s Holocaust art projects; and view a display of art-work from the Gertrude Sperling Resource Library for Holocaust Studies and Kronber Family Media Center. The Jewish Family Service Agen-cy will be running a food drive at the Yom HaShoah event. In the spirit of the occasion, all food do-nated will go to the Jewish Family Service Agency. For further infor-mation, please call Helen Richard at the Jewish Federation of Las Ve-gas at (702) 732-0556. Worship Services 2 Rabbi's Message 2 Message from our President 3 Torah Study Opportunities 3 School News / CNT Preschool 4-5 April B'nai Mitzvah 6 New Member Welcome 6 Auxiliaries/Committees 8 CNT's New Sister Congregation 9 Passover Information 10 Birthdays/Anniversaries 13 Tributes 14 Yahrzeits & In Memorium 16 (the Bulletin is published monthly) Please Note: CNTT is testing out some new looks for The Bulletin and would like your input! Each month for the next 4-5 months, The Bulletin will be printed on different papers to test out new images. Please give us your opinion - call Mindy at 873-1956 or Monty at the Temple at 733-6292. cA (Special ^Plaee to rJielont/ 'Worship Services Conducted by Rabbi Sanford I). Akselrad & Cantoriul Soloist Bella Feldman APRIL 1 TORAH STUDY 10AM APRIL 7 TOT SHABBAT 6:30PM ALTERNATE SERVICE 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD APRIL 14 SHABBAT SERVICES 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD APRIL 19 C N T PASSOVER SEDER 6PM APRIL 20 PASSOVER MORNING SERVICE 10AM APRIL 21 SHABBAT SERVICES 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD APRIL 27 YISKOR SERVICES 10AM APRIL 28 TEACHER'S RECOGNITION SHABBAT 7:30PM ONEG SPONSORED BY THE SISTERHOOD APRIL 29 MICHAEL ROITMAN BAR MITZVAH 10AM KIDDUSH SPONSORED BY THE ROITMAN FAMILY TORAH STUDY 10AM yM ESSAGE FROM OUR TEMPLE PRESIDENT j f c ? - \ CoNQRECjATION NER TAMid W In the past few weeks, our temple has sponsored two wonderful programs targeted towards our young adults. First on the 27th of February, as part of our "Qcholar in Residence" weekend, Rabbi Richard Address, director of the UAHC Department of Jewish Fami-ly Concerns, led a youth session on Eating Disorders. This was a very well attended program that was designed to give our youth and their parents real-life informa-tion on eating disorders and ways to deal with problems of this magnitude. The guest speakers who j o i n e d Rabbi Address at the program not only talked about real-life situations, but Dr. Joel Mishalow, who is experienced in treating patients with eating disor-ders, explained ways to spot prob-lem signs and ways to try and deal with it before a situation gets out of hand. This was very impor-tant as it may have helped those in attendance talk about it more easily. Talking about this subject with a parent or counselor or friend is never easy. If Rabbi Address or the guest speakers were able to reach one child or one parent and get them thinking more seriously about these things, then the day was a total success. Secondly, on the 12th of March, CNT and a number of other local Jewish youth groups sponsored a workshop called "Teen Tools", a workshop to help teach teens and their parents how to deal with sex, drugs, anger and violence. The chairperson, Sylvia Beller, put together an excellent panel of counselors, experts in their field, who presented scenarios from actual cases to help everyone learn more on how to deal with these types of problems. Attendees were also given a real life story to read and analyze and then answer some questions about the story. The parents worked together in one room and the kids worked in groups in another room, then they all got back together to discuss their findings and feelings about the story. This helped everyone better understand how and why dealing with an anger problem or a drug problem is so important to everyone involved. Both of these programs were very good examples of programs, we as a temple, need to sponsor for our members. We need to work very hard to reach out to our members, young and old, and offer them useful information like this to help them in their daily lives to be better informed. The Board of Trustees is very commit-ted to seeing more ana more of these types of programs sponsored by CNT. If there are other topics that you feel need to be present-ed in a program format, please let us know. We as Reform Jews must be committed to this cause. Thank you to all our staff mem-bers, volunteers and guests who worked so hard to put these pro-grams together. They could not have been successful without you. 'Drezv o - Sundays ? 9:00am-12:l5pm (Duritig 'Jtefujious ScfiooC) 'Jridaijs 6:30-7:l5pm or cat!'Temple office for appointment ApRil 2 0 0 0 TEMPLE BOARD MEMBERS Up Front and In Their Face Education DREW LEVY STEWART BLUMENFELD Scarr STOLBERC; HOWARD LAYFER IRA SPECTOR JUDY CORNETT LYNN SASSO DAVID STAHL RUTH URBAN MEL HALLERMAN RITA GOLDSTEIN JACKY ROSEN LEON MARCO ESTHER SALTZMAN SHARNA BLUMENFELD MINDY UNGER-WADKINS SANDY STOLBERC STEVE JOSEPH STUART KALLICK T B D SANDY PRRRLE BOB UNGER JERRY GORDON CAL LEWIS EILEEN KOLLINS KENNETH SCHNITZER DR. DAVID WASSERMAN DR. STEVE KOLLINS MICHAEL CHERRY DR. BERNARD FARROW EUGENE KIRSHBAUM* RABBI SANFORD AKSELRAD President VP Administration VP Way.? & Means VP Membership VP Religious Activities VP Education & Youth VP Member Activities Treasurer Secretary Trustee Trustee Trustee-Membership 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 TORBH STUM O p p o R T u n i T i e s With Rabbi Akselrad Every other Tuesday 12 noon-1:00 p.m. 4/11-4/25 With Student Rabbi Neal Schuster Various Qaturdays 10:00 a.m. 4/1, 4/29 No registration or fees are required for these classes. How much can you teach teens from textbooks? Not very much after they have sat in school all week. Life les-sons impress them more. One of the issues we address in the Post d'nai Mitzvah Program (13-14 yr. olds), is valuing life. Students visit UMC with their teachers and parents. Mrs. Janet Schlesinger, who volunteers in the Neo-Natal unit, arranges for this visit. We hope t h a t by seeing young people in the cancer unit fighting for life and new born babies who are born with exteme low weight problems due t o drugs, these students will see for themselves t h a t actions have conse-quences and life has value. A week after their trip I had the plea-sure of sitting in on the Post EJ'nai Mitzvah class. I asked the students what they had gotten out of their trip t o UMC. One student spoke up angrily. He stated "I didn't get any-thing out of the trip". "My group" he said " s t a r t e d at the cancer unit. I read t o a beautiful little girl and I gave her a book. When I gave her a Lion stuffed toy, she smiled. The nurs-es were so happy they cried. It was the f i r s t time she smiled in weeks. I felt great! Then my group went t o t h e Neo-Natal unit. I saw crack babies and babies t h a t had alcoholic mothers struggling t o breathe and shaking in their cribs. The sight of t h is took my positive feeling away. I was left with nothing." This process may seem hard for a four-teen- year-old, but i t made an impres-sion. He did learn something; he j u s t needed his emotions clarified. He had seen children struggling for life and he saw the results of those who disregard the consequences of their actions. Life lessons teach more than we re-alize and teens need t o experience and see what happens in this world. We need t o stop protecting our chil-dren if we want adults with morals and t h a t value life. Jackie f(ee/(gp Director of Education PS. The confirmation class wishes t o thank Mr. & Mrs. Mel Hallerman for their donation of the stuffed lions t h a t were given out at UMC to remind patients t o have courage. Israel 2000. A First Hand Report On April 14"', at Shabbat Evening Services, Rabbi Akselrad will present sp Mission 2000. Please join us at this a special sermon about the Israel i special service where Rabbi will discuss current Israeli political issues including the nature of" religious pluralism in Israel and the Middle East peace talks. About 50 members of the Jewish community were on this mission, and Rabbi will talk about the trip and share his insights and experiences. Don't miss out on this special sermon! ISRAEL ApRil 2 0 0 0 <// Speeiu! '/Mutt "to lit Iont, \ ?~!\(ntp.<;Jrntti our C a m n r i a f S n f n i . s t It is truly amazing how fast the last three montns have gone by. Our family is re-adjusting to having a new babu in the house and now it's time for mom to re-turn to her other job. I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a Cantor's Convention over Presi-dent's weekend which definitely helped my transition back into Tem-ple life. The theme of the week-end was Vafikim - which means Veteran's - Learning from the Wisdom of Others. Qeveral Cantor's from around the country came in to teach the sessions, including my mentor, Cantor Will-iam Qharlin. It was a very inter-esting weekend and I learned much from my collegues. Throughout the conference there was a lot of music shared. I came home with many new pieces to enjoy with our congregation. Looking forward to all of the upcoming events at our busy Temple. B'shalom, (Beffa Going Grocery Shopping? Buyinq Clothes or Gifts? Shop at the Galleria Mall? Don't forget the new Scrip program! HAVE YOU SIGNED UP YET? ApRil 2 0 0 0 Religious School News SPRING INTO SPRING April is the most important month for our youth at CNT. The confirmation class will go on a trip to Los Angeles to bond with each other, share fun experiences and attend the Museum of Tolerance. NTTY will attend Spring Conclave in Phoenix. Every-one will have Spring Break and the Passover experience. We will have an outreach program for inter-faith families on April 3th at 7:00 PM and a Pathways to Sprituality (formally Torah-thon) on April 15, where adults and youth can learn more about the spiritual side of Judaism. There is so much happening, so much to share with each other; we are certainly lucky to be at CNT and to be able to share another Spring together. Shalom, Jackie CoNQREQA J70/V Ner TAMid ^ <Do you i ^ j h a v e a famiCy memSer ^ or friend zuho is \ hospitatized? I Rabbi Akselrad } would like to help you and your family by visiting Temple members and friends of our congregation who have been hospitalized. Since there is no notification from the hospitals, please contact Karen at the Temple office at 733-6292 when a family member or friend is hospitalized. mm CNT PRESCHOOL mm Have a Happy and Kosher Passover from all of us at the Pre-school. Lois 'Bergman 2 0 0 0 CNT PRESCHOOL CALENDAR March was a fun filled month here at the Preschool. We had our Purim celebration with costumes, grogers, Hamentashen and a Megillah reading - what a fun day. Our youngsters began our read-a-thon program and celebrat-ed Dr. Seuss' 96, h Birthday. Our students sang for the Golden Chai group and presented them with a large Megillah with all of our names and our artwork. Our Friday Evening Preschool Gabbath Gervice was a great experience for all of the boys and girls. It was a plea-sure to see all of our students dressed in their Ghabbat best cloth-ing and performing for all of the congregation. We all kveled from watching these little ones with smiling faces singing beautiful Ghabbat Melodies. The Library Lady paid us a visit. And we enjoyed our field trip to the Lied Children's Discovery Museum. ApRil 2 0 0 0 Many of the boys and girls have turned in their filled Tzekdaka Boxes and will be able to purchase many trees in Israel with the money. Immediately after Purim we began to prepare for the Passover Geder to be held April 14,h. We look forward to hearing our youngsters chant the Four Questions and all of the traditional Passover prayers. The students continue to learn and grow in their secular studies and social skills as well. CNT preschool is a very busy and exciting place to be. Of course we will cele-brate April fools day and talk about April showers ana May flowers. Gpeaking of flowers; our CNT Preschool Garden is looking good. We are hoping to eat our first vegetables soon, certainly we will eat the parsley from our garden at the Geder. Next month we will be preparing for our Mother's Day Brunch on the 14,h of May and we will cele-brate Israel Independence Day. We are already taking applications for our summer program (Camp Chaverim) for children ages 2 Ya - 9 years of age. And of course, our Kindergarten Program is almost fate compleit. We are also taking deposits for next years preschool program, our waiting lists are growing and we can only ac-cept a limited number of students in all of our programs. If you have any questions or want to sign your child or grandchild up for any of our classes, please do so sooner, rather than later. One of our classes is already full. Call us at the Tem-ple Office at 733-6292. APRIL 2000 Monday, April 17-21 No School Spring Break Thursday, April 27 No School Passover (last day) Top LIH: NOAII Lookinq AT IHR AH'IMAIS Top Riqhr: Li'el, John, Avi, AM! Lion PeuiNC, ibe Simp Left: Ad A FCIMAH neAds A pnescbool stony IO CAilene CURHAH Above: Field Tnip! Wendy AM! JACOI), Miss Lesley & BenjAM'm, And NOAII MAY 2000 Monday, May 29 No School Memorial Day JUNE 2000 Friday, June 2 AST DAY OF SCHOOL ( // Special '/)ltt< (< C7o 'lii lom/ 1 My name is Mike Roitman. I am in the seventh grade at the Las Vegas Day 9chool. My hobbies are listening to rap music, going to the movies and playing basket-ball. I have a younger brother named Alex, who is eleven. My family and I invite you to join us when I will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah on April 29, 2000. Social Action Committee Sponsoring "Teacher Appreciation Sa66atfi" LET'S GIVE A BIG CNT WELCOME TO THESE NEW MEMBERS: Barry and Dana Levinson & Josh (SVz) The Lcvinsons come to us from the West side of Las Vegas after many years of living in the area. We are so glad that they checked us out and have decided to join the CNT fami-ly! Barry is a lawyer, Dana a home-maker, and Josh (we assume) is a student, at the CNT religious school and his local elementary school. Let us try to get to know the Levinsons better, and welcome them to many upcoming Temple events. Donald and Sandra Marcus The Marcuses are retired business people who are interested in getting involved in CNT activities. We look forward to seeing them at services, at Brotherhood and Sisterhood func-tions, as well as at special events. Watch for Sandy's cake at the next Oneg Shabbat, too; we hear she's quite a baker! ApRil 2 0 0 0 'With public schools facing nezv challenges and new attad^s every day, it is easy to lose sight of the important role that teachers play in the upbringing of our chidren. Teachers spend up to si\ hours a day zvith our loved ones. They are critical not only to their academic learning, but in every aspect of their development. It is important that we build relationships zvith our teachers, letting them tqxow how much we value them and teaching them about the issues that concern us. On April 28, we will be holding a special Shabbat service in which we will honor our public and religious school teachers. The theme oj this Shabbat is "Cel-ebrating education: 1Honoring and 'Educating our Teachers . 'We are asking that you send your child's teacher an invitation (we will be distributirw copies at religious school) to attend the service witni/ou and your child. Our religious school teachers will be invited also. At the service, 'Rabbi will pay special tribute to the teach-ers and deliver a sermon appropriate to the occasion. Tle/ af sce \j oin us for this exciting Shabbat! ^ 6 CORIQREQARION NER TAMid W Mike Goodman & Melanie (11) Mike and Melanie are a great father-daughter addition to the congregation. Let's make them feel welcome and involved in many Temple happenings. We'll look forward to seeing them at holiday celebrations, golf tournaments, etc., as well as servic-es and special events. Mike is employed by a local executive search firm, and he and Melanie live in Hender-son. <yis?or/?Passover 1999-2000 5760 9{oivardAberman Murray Ader Jac/^Leon (Best 'Eva 'Bortman 'J{oslyn Caan (B[anca delValle Jay 'Denny 'Benny 'Dresher Arnold 'Edland Mottle 'Ltkin 'Barbara 'Jadem 'DanielJeldman 9{er6ert Jischer Minnie 'fleef(op .Pedro Qarcia Morris Q inshery Celia (Joldstein Joseph CjoCdsfiein Alexander Qrossman Michael Q ust Corie Odepler Jac/^Moo/^er Dorothy Jfoue Joseph "Kami 'Jtyse %lein Sonny %lein 'Ernest Lander Sonia Lee Jerome Levey Caroline Lezvis 'EthefLitt 'Kate Lutz Merman Matkin 'Brandon Mar^ewich Alan Marf(oivitz Jaelt Michaels A p m l 2 0 0 0 'Donald 'Xeiviger Samuel 9\(ovic!^ Dorothy Orhriner 'Esther Tatruznie? 'Dean Testqn 'J{uth 'Fessin Annette 'Eolastqj Marine Tomerantz Mervyn 'Kosenjeld 'J(ichard %ossman Alfred Rostov CecilSerliruj 'Kegina Sickle Qloria Schwartz Ceal Shapiro 'Barbara Sonnier 'Emanuel Stern Betty iKattner Trubenbach Mabel Try on Dorothy Vandenbery 'Jrieda Walton 9dozvard Weber Jesse Wert AlWe\ler Michael "Mickey" Wright If you fiave a the name of a Coved one you would like to add to this list, please call %aren at the Temple, yisfar Services ivitt 6e conducted 'Thursday, April 27 at 10:00am in the 'Beit Tefdlah. <1 TEMPLE WISH LIST! Three Plain Paper Fax Machines WmmmmiWkimm I p i i i i w l PIEASE joiN US ON ApRil 15TIT for? PATHWAYS TO SPIRITUALITY, foRMERly klVIOWN AS TIIE TORATITON. IT w i l l B E Q I N AT 2:50pM AND w i l l bE fREE of cllARqE. T IIFRE w i l l BE SEMiNARS ON: TITE MiNcJ body ANd soul CONNECTION, KAbbAUh, s p i u i i u A l JOURNEyS, ANd MORE. WATcIl foR MORE iNfORMAliON. CAI I IIII TiMph TO RSVP, 755-6292. m m Special )l(icc "7o rJielom/ \ W U l l t l l M t S i s t e r f i o o d X e w s i i i i i i i i i t i If you didn't make our last pro-gram you missed out on the fun. Donna and Marsha planned a Clinique Skin Care Workshop. We were treated to a lesson on skin care, hand massages and make-overs. All this plus dessert and coffee. Tuesday April 25,h is the date for the Annual All Women's Seder. The Seder will begin at 6:00 p.m. the cost is $18.00 for sisterhood mem-bers, 424.00 for non members and $10.00 dollars for girls 12 and under. Our service will be lead by Bella Feldman, our Cantorial Solo-ist, and Maxine Molinsky who is in charge of Sisterhoods religious activities. Please look for enclosed flyer for reservation information. Soon sisterhood will be slowing down for the summer, however we still have plenty of things planned. Besides the All Women's Seder, we have a Chai Tea Fashion Show planned for Sunday May 7*; we need 10 women from sisterhood, petit to plus sizes to be our mod-els. Our fashions will be from Macys. Please contact Yvonne Weiss at 255-2207. Sisterhood elections will be Wednesday May 17th. Donor Dinner Wednesday May 31". If you're not a sisterhood member yet, this is the perfect time to join. If you join after April 1" your membership is good until June 30, 2001 so you get al5 month mem-bership for the price of 12. Sisterhood membership runs from July-June. Membership is only $30.00 per year, or $50.00 for a mitzvah membership. Flyers will be sent out with details about all our up coming events. And you can always call the tem-ple office at 733-6292. If you would like to be on our sisterhood e-mail list, please send me your address, sandys@lvcm.com. Shalom, Sandy Golden Chai ' / i i U V v April is the month when we celebrate Pesach. Golden Chai wishes everyone a Happy Holiday. We hope you are lucky enough to celebrate it with family. We are having only one meeting in April and we are quite fortunate in having as our guest speaker, Mayor Oscar Goodman. I am sure he will give a wonderful talk and answer you questions. The entire congregation is invited to attend this special event. We hope you will come and see what wonderful meetings they are. We try to have a party instead of a meeting and we would like everyone to come to our party! Shalom and Love & Happy Passover Sandy (Pittle ^ CoNQREQATiON NCR TAMid All golfers are invited t o play in the CNT Golf Classic, Sunday, April 2nd, & am at Sun City Highland Falls Golf Course. The "Shot Gun Best Ball Tournament" is $100 per player and is open t o golfers of all skill levels. "A good time is the objective of this tournament. Whether your a duffer or an 'A' player you have a chance t o win. We will be presenting tons of prizes and serving a luncheon buffet," explains Gary Gilman, event chairman. "You can make your own 'Four Person Scramble Teams' or have t he Men's Club assign you. This is an opportunity t o meet new friends or spend time with existing friends or business associates." After everyone finishes playing, we will handicap the scores. Prizes will be given t o the f i r s t three teams and the last place team. Prizes can also be won by hitting the straightest drive and accomplishing various 'serious' and 'goofy' shots' Golfers who hit a bad shot can buy a 'mulligan'. Those who are worried about putting can buy string which you can use for those close p u t t s you might j u s t miss. Businesses are supporting the tournament by sponsoring holes and providing the prizes. ApRil 2 0 0 0 Cr C9^T "Becomes Sister Congregation to Reform Congregation in IsraeC Background Several discussions at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations bi-ennial conference in Orlando last De-cember focused on the situation of Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel. As most of you may know, the two progressive arms of Juda-ism suffer considerable legal disad-vantages maneuvered through the Knesset by the ultra-Orthodox par-ties. For example, only Orthodox rab-bis can perform State-recognized marriages and conversions within Is-rael. Also, Orthodox rabbis will mar-ry only persons whom they recognize as Jewish by their own definition. For example, at one session in Orlando a woman who had converted to Ju-daism more than twenty years ago?"a Jew by choice", she called herself?complained t h a t her chil-dren could not be married in Israel because they are not recognized as Jews under Orthodox laws. Both the Reform and Conservative movements are working hard t o gain equality of recognition in Israel. Much of the legal work in combating dis-criminatory laws is earned out by The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), based in Jerusalem and headed by Rabbi Uri Regev, who is also a lawyer. After listening t o a couple of Rabbi Regev's presenta- ,1)3!' ' r t ^ n p - Dm n " m > m tions, I suggested t o him t h a t mu-tual benefit could be obtained if our congregation in Las Vegas could de-velop a "sister" relationship with a Reform congregation in Israel. Rab-bi Regev agreed and so I brought the idea t o the Board in January. The Board concurred enthusiatically and authorized me t o pursue the issue. Through the IRAC, I was put in touch with the rabbi of a congregation in Modi'in, Israel. A series of e-mails were exchanged discussing how the relationship would work. The basic purpose of the sister relationship is t o promote maximum personal inter-action and fellowship between Jews who follow Reform precepts, whether they live in Las Vegas or in Israel. To start, we will put each other on our Bulletin mailing lists, will provide e-mail addresses for people who want direct contact that way (many of their people speak English, but we have more computer access), and will encourage visiting when our peo-ple are in Israel and when theirs can come t o Las Vegas. By happy coin-cidence, Sharna and I were taking our granddaughter Nikki (age 13) for her first visit t o Israel in February, which gave us an opportunity t o make the first visit t o our new sister on behalf of CNT. Left: Nikki and Stew with Rabbi Shiryon Below: Stew, Rabbi Shiryon, Sharna a t YOZMA's new site in Modi'in ApRil 2 0 0 0 F <SP t'f CNT's Sister Congregation, YOZMA "Yozma" means "initiative" in Hebrew. It also comes from an acronym that spells out "Judaism in Our Time, the Heritage of the People". YOZMA is located in Modi'in, a new town of about 20,000 situated about half-way between Tel Aviv and Jerusa-lem, j u s t a few miles off the main highway between the two cities. (It took us about 3 0 minutes t o drive t o Modi'in from our hotel, which was right on the Mediterranean, as far away as one can get in Tel Aviv.) It is a beautiful new city of white stone apartment buildings, green parks, and thoughtfully laid-out shopping areas, all designed by Moshe Safdi, Israel's internationally-renowned architect and planner. The f i r s t residents moved in in 1996. The families tend t o be young because the housing, though quite lovely, is much less ex-pensive than in Tel Aviv or Jerusa-lem and their suburbs. The young families tend t o be more liberal in their thinking, and thus more open t o a more liberal form of Judaism than an older population probably would be. While YOZMA is presently in temporary quarters, the city has allocated a lovely parcel of land to YOZMA for its permanent facility. It may surprise some t o learn that most Israelis, though obviously Jew-ish, are much less observant than most American Jews. Thus, a major goal of Reform Judaism in Israel is t o help basic Judaic observances be-come more a part of everyday life. For example, children are encouraged t o say the blessing over bread be-fore every meal. (We have many friends in Israel and, other than at Pesach, cannot recall ever starting even Shabbat dinner a t their homes by lighting candles and/or reciting the Motzi. By contrast, we watched YOZMA's pre-schoolers s t a r t their regular afternoon snack with the Motzi) Families also are encouraged t o view the synagogue as a commu-nity gathering center, especially as (continued on paqe II) iut rpUue 1o He!out/ - CoNQREQA TION NER T R n D i n o N n i PnSSOV?R S?D?R Congregation Ner Tomid Social Hall April 19, 2000 6pm Seating is limited to 200 people. Menu Seder Plate Matzo*UUine Gefilte Fish*Matzo Sail Soup Roasted Chicken*8risket*Kishke Tzmisses Dessert*Coffee*Tea Members-Adults $50 Children under 12 $20 Non-Members $65 Temple members will have first priority to make reservations. Time is running out! Make your reservations today. Call the temple office for more information, 733-6292. Vour check is your reservation - no money is accepted at the door. "Model Seder" to B e A p r i l 6 CNT will hold a "Model Seder" for interfaith families on April 6th at 7:00pm. Please join us as we learn to prepare traditional Passover foods, participate in a "Model Seder," and sing Passover songs. The program is free of charge and open to the entire community. It is the perfect place for inter-faith families to lean about Fassover in a welcoming environment. If you liked the Hanukah "How To," you won't want to miss the Passover "Model Seder." Please RSVP to the Temple office, 733-6292. Dinner will not be provided, but there will be Fassover snacks. Hope to see you there! TAMid Apml 2 0 0 0 S o c i a l Action Sister Congregation - continued - a gathering pi ace on Shabbat and for adult study. Thus, YOZMA is being organized as a school, a community cen-ter, and a synagogue. The pre-school and kindergarten are already in operation, with plans for a grade school to s t a r t next year. Right now, the pre-school and kindergar-ten use four temporary trail-er- type buildings sitting on the campus of a government elementary school. The con-gregation, which began in 1997, has 130 dues-paying families. (As a side note, although Modi'in is one of Israel's new-est planned cities, i t is of his-torical interest because it is mentioned in the Bible as the home of the Maccabees, who led the revolt against their Greco-Syrian overlords in Pal-estine in 166 3.C.E. In fact, one can stop at the tradi-tional site of the graves of the Maccabees along the road connecting modern Modi'in to the main Jerusalem-TA high-way.) YOZMA is led by Rabbi Kin-neret Shiryon. Rabbi Shiryon was Israel's f i r s t woman rab-bi. She did her undergradu-ate work at UC-Berkeley and was ordained at HUC-JIR in 1961. In 1903, having married an Israeli, she made aliya. She worked initially for UAHC in Jerusalem and then as rab-bi of a Reform congregation in a suburb of Tel Aviv. She and her husband, a photocar-tographer for the government, have four children, ages d t o 16. Additional news regarding YOZMA and our relationship will be forthcoming in future Bulletins. Stezvart '.BtumenfeCd ApRil 2 0 0 0 ( ! .Special rf)ime To 'lU'louq WEST VIRGINIA A few weeks ago I traveled east to a small town called Huntington, West Virginia. This little town, with a synagogue that has 125 families and 58 students, is located in a tri-state point. Some of the students are from Kentucky and Ohio. Although the materials are not the newest and the curriculum needs to be updated, the students are excited to be there and are learning. The largest class had ten students that look forward to seeing their classmates on Sundays. I felt that the weekend was rewarding for me personally as I did the sermon, taught and evaluated this congregations educational programs. In small communities the synagogue is a place to meet friends, learn, and find the spirituality from pr