The Bulletin of Temple Beth Sholom, March 2004

Temple Beth Sholom THE FULL- OF - BULLETIN TBS, JCC, JFSA 2 Form "JUST" Kosher Starbucks to 12 open in school foyer Women's League fashion 15 show features Janet Jackson Abraham found Guilty . 22 Sentenced to eternity of synagogue meetings Calendar of Events 23 Schedule of Services 24 Temple Beth Sholom is a Conservative Congregation affiliated with The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Bin Laden guest speaker 4 at TBS lecture series Rabbi Goodman officiates 6 at Benifer nuptials Wranglers Hockey 7 Preschoolers get class 8 in crap table manners Donations hit $100K 10 in February When asked how the members of the congregation felt when finding the Havenwood lot empty, Zucker replied that everyone was thrilled and would be moving to the North to join us." In making the change TBS becomes the first synagogue in Jewish history to totally eliminate any dues, fundraising or school costs. The projected proceeds from the Tahoe deal are expected to cover all costs for the indeterminable future and to endow social action projects for at least $1 million per year. March 2004 m i n i M c n i n l e c n r Audi-Nissan 5764 .. Kl _ c PURIMSPIEL ISSUE PURIMSPIEL ISSUE Vol. 4, No. 3.5 INSIDE THIS ISSUE TBS Moves to Northern Nevada In a move that surprised the entire Las Vegas community, Las Vegas's oldest congregation literally picked itself up and moved to Lake Tahoe (Nevada side). President Jeff Zucker explained the sudden (and expensive) overnight move this way, "Tahoe made us a deal we couldn't refuse. They offered us a chance to place slots in our social halls and rest rooms, and to allow one weekday a month for table games. We get to keep all the proceeds. It was on the condition that we bring our facility with us, so Tahoe could claim to have Nevada's oldest congregation. The Executive Board approved the move and we were able to have the facility moved by Moysha's Moving Maven's ('No job too big. No price too small."). The photo below left shows TBS in its new North Nevada locale. The photo below right shows the TBS lot as it now appears. 2?Purimspiel TBS, JCC, JFSA JOIN AND FORM JEWS UNITED FOR STRATEGIC THINKING (JUST) A new think tank for Las Vegas Jewry has been created to think of things Jewish for Las Vegas. This organization brings together some of the best minds in the Valley which think about Jewish things. Some of the things these thinkers will think about are money, status, social engineering, converting un-affiliated into affiliated, funding social action programs, educating the uneducated, feeding the unfed, making the retired less retiring. Representative representatives from Temple Beth Sholom, Jewish Community Centers and Jewish Family Services Agency have agreed to consult with one another in thinking about these weighty issues. "We thought a think tank would generate ideas that we all could use," said Shaina Madel, one of TBS's senior thinkers. "Good thought," was Gahacta Laber's reaction. Laber volunteers many hours at JFSA, and when she isn't working there she is thinking about it. Temple Beth Sholom volunteered its chapel as a quiet, spiritual place conducive to good thinking. "This is a natural association of institutions," according to Liebeschin Punim, a member of TBS's Board. "We all need to think, so why not do it together." i \ 51s to Build at TBS With the immanent closure of Cashman Field, the Las Vegas 51s need to fine a new home. At the same time TBS has been looking for a new source of revenues. "It was a match made in heaven," said Rabbi Felipe Goodman. "We've got land and they need a stadium." And with that announcement (subject to approval by Summerlin) the Dodger blue (which is also Israeli blue) farm team will arrive on the Summerlin scene in time for the '07 season. As part of the contract arrangements, the baseball organization will build a 50,000 seat air-conditioned stadium on the TBS back lot. The construction will include an underground parking structure using a newly discovered method for melting caliche. Parking for synagogue functions will be in the facility at no cost to TBS members. The shul will be the owner of a luxury box in the stadium for its sole use, and it will be entitled to 1% of the net from concessions. Only Kosher hotdogs will be served. Rabbi Good-man has declared that all beer served on temple grounds is Kosher and that popcorn and peanuts are, of course, Kosher. The Temple will not share in gate receipts, but TBS members with season tickets will be entitled to a 18% discount. A majority ruling from the Conservative Movement's Committee on Law and Ritual has cleared the team for games on Shabbat. The ruling held " Competitive sports is a cele-bration of the spirit and an allowable function on the holy Sabbath as it honors the human body." Dis-senters felt the ruling opened too wide a door to other types of activities. During the off-season, TBS will be entitled to use the stadium for Jewish revival gatherings and con-certs. The Ritual Committee estimates that it will be able to hold two revivals a year that will fill the stadium with zealous Jews, and Cantor Friedman looks forward to producing at least two musical productions in this venue a year. He announced that the first such production will be "Carry On Cantors," a joyful musical romp through cantorial school, with the flavor of "Animal House." TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM Temple Beth Sholom THE BULLETIN March 2004 Adar?Nisan 5764 Vol. 4, No. 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Rabbi's Message 4 Executive Director's Message 5 Ambassador Dennis Ross 6 Religious School 7 Moses/March Madness 8 TBS Men's Club 9 Donations 10 Preschool 12 Guide to Pesah 14 Passover Seder 16 Chametz 17 Passover Pantry 18 B'nai Mitzvahs 19 Under the Dome 20 Women's League 21 JCC Camp 22 People vs. Abraham 26 Calendar of Events 27 Schedule of Services 28 Temple Beth Sholom is a Conservative Congregation affiliated with The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism BBKBBg H H U B MARCH MADNESS Get out your running shoes. Get in shape for a tournament of events occurring here at Temple Beth Sholom. You will need to be fleet on your feet, organized for action and in good mental condition to appear at all the championship events taking place at Temple Beth Sholom - the arena for exciting programming. Mark your calendars for what is ahead. Starting on March 2 at 10:30 AM is L'Dor V'Dor's Purim lunch. Seniors from around the Valley will be celebrating with our young-sters with optional costumes, Hamentashen galore, a Gustav Mahler meal and much noise as order of the day. Make haste the next day, March 3, for Fem Schumer Chapman, author of "Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust - A Mother-Daughter Journey to Reclaim the Past. Ms. Chapman will be speaking at 7 PM. Her visit is being sponsored by our Men's Club and the Warsaw Ghetto Remembrance Garden. This Oprah Book Club Choice is a moving personal ac-count of the author and her mother's visit into her mother's past. Sunday, March 7, is our annual Purim Carnival. Volunteers helping with set up can work after Shabbos on Saturday evening as well as on Sunday. The Carnival is a two-parter. From 9:30 AJVl to noon it is exclusively for Preschoolers. Bring your kids for games, fun and food. From noon to 2 PM it is open for everybody. If you can help out give Kim Me-mar a call at 646-5401. February 2004 Next comes Albert Einstein. Yes, we get up close and per-sonal with the greatest mind of the 20Ih Century. Len Barron will be presenting his interpretation of the great man in a one man performance open to the entire community right here at Arena TBS. This is a three day event, sponsored in part by the Men's Club along with the synagogue. On Tuesday, March 16, at 7 PM you are invited to come face to face with Mr. Einstein, as Mr. Barron gives us "Walking Lightly...A Portrait of Einstein". On Wednesday, March 17, following Religious School, Mr. Barron will give an age appropriate performance for our children (ages ten and over please) and their parents at 6:30 PM. At both performances we will see Einstein as we have never before seen him - as a dutiful son, sailor, as a lover of children and a good cigar, and as an edu-cator, and we will hear his hopes and aspirations for Israel. As a bonus, on Thursday night, March 18, at 7 PM Mr. Bar-ron will present a light, musical creation of his titled "On the Pleasures of Growing Older - stories, songs and dance by the irrepressible Len Barron. And it's all FREE...FREE...FREE. 4?Rabbi's Message My Recent Visit to Israel's Security Fence By Rabbi Felipe Goodman During the next couple of weeks and perhaps for an entire month or two we will be hearing a lot about Is-rael's security fence. The issue of Israel's security fence is directly linked with Israel's right to self defense and in a very basic way with Israel's right to exist. Dur-ing the first two weeks in February I was privileged to be able to attend the Rabbinical Assembly convention in Jerusalem. I joined a group of 350 conservative Rabbis from throughout the world in a week of study, dialogue and reflection. One of the most important events during my entire week in Israel was to be able to see the security fence up close. I have taken an ex-planation about what the fence is from a source at Is-rael's Foreign affairs office. I am sharing this with you because I want all of us to be aware of what the fence represents and why Israel must go ahead with it's plan to finish the building of the fence. I hope this brief ex-planation will help us understand better. More than 900 people were murdered in attacks car-ried out by Palestinian terrorists since late September 2000. Thousands of Israelis have been injured, many of the victims maimed for life. The terrorists infiltrated Israeli cities and towns and carried out attacks - includ-ing suicide bombings - on buses, in restaurants, shop-ping malls, and even private homes. No other nation in the world has before this time faced such an intense wave of terror, especially in the form of suicide bomb-ings. In almost all of the cases, the terrorists infiltrated from Palestinian areas in the West Bank. The Palestin-ian leadership has done nothing to stop them and has even encouraged them. As a result of the increasing terror, Israel decided to erect a physical barrier. The absence of such a barrier makes infiltration into Israeli communities a relatively easy task for terrorists. No terrorists have infiltrated from the Gaza Strip into Israel in recent years, because an electronic security fence already exists there. The Government of Israel has an obligation to defend its citizens against terrorism. This right of self-defense is anchored in international law. The security fence will not annex Palestinian lands, change the legal status of the Palestinians, nor prevent the Palestinians from going about their daily lives. It will not establish a border, which is to be determined by direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Despite the many pictures being shown in the interna-tional media of a tall concrete wall, more than 97% of the planned 720 km. (480 mile) security fence will con-sist of a chain-link fence system. Less than 3% of the fence will be constructed of concrete. The short con-crete sections are intended not only to stop terrorists from infiltrating, but also to block them from shooting at Israeli vehicles traveling on main highways alongside the pre-June 1967 line. The security fence forms a strip approximately the width of a four-lane highway. At its center is the chain-link fence that supports an intrusion detection sys-tem. This technologically advanced system is de-signed to warn against infiltrations, as is the dirt "tracking" path and other observation tools. The decision to build the security fence was taken only after other options were tried, but failed to stop the deadly terrorist attacks. Despite its numerous commit-ments, the Palestinian Authority has failed to fight ter-rorism. The obligations that were violated by the Pal-estinian Authority were contained in the Oslo Accords and subsequent agreements, as well as in the Road- Continued on page 11 Executive Director's Message?5 SPRING HAS ALMOST SPRUNG By Robert Mirisch Executive Director What to write about? I feel very laid back this month. The air is mixing warmth and a coolness that hints that spring is just around the corner. As I write this column, the rush of the Gala is over and Purim and Pesach are closing in, but still far off enough to give a chance to sit back and catch one's breath. To quote Oscar Hammerstein from "State Fair," "I'd say that I have spring fever, but it isn't even spring." You would think that lazy days are upon us, but that's hardly the case. Just look at the schedule of events set forth on the "real" front page of this Bulletin and you'll quickly realize that we are over-flowing with activities. But they are all in good shape, and they are all worth at-tending. Life is full of choices, isn't it? Rabbi will need to use that scooter he was tooling around on at the Gala in or-der to be all the places his presence is ex-pected. You need to choose what interests you the most and plan your calendar ac-cordingly. Music, literature, drama, cos-tumes and pie throwing. All in one month. You might even throw in some religion; it couldn't hurt. All these things don't happen on there own. The entire TBS community has put forth effort to make our programming throughout the year as outstanding as it is. Clergy, congregants, staff each de-serve praise for the untold hours making such a month of excitement come to frui-tion. Each member of TBS has a respon-sibility to all the other members. It is to support these programs by attending and bring friends and family and to assist in creating and bringing off other wonderful events. Don't leave it to others. Join in the fun. Share the pride and keep up the good work. What a place! It's a bargain at twice the price. No, don't worry, this has nothing to do with doubling of dues. It's just a sug-gestion that we want to keep in mind that joining TBS gives us more than seats at High Holy Days. It is a year round in-vestment that pays dividends in our cul-tural, spiritual, educational, intellectual and social lives. What we spend to sup-port shul is high return at little risk. Have fun at everything and pitch in when you can. In the meantime I'm wondering - do robins come to the Mojave? February 2004 6?Ambassador Dennis Ross TOP NEGOTIATOR SHARES INSIGHT INTO MIDDLE EAST PEACE AMBASSADOR DENNIS ROSS AT TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM APRIL 21ST For more than a decade, Dennis Ross was America's top negotiator in the Middle East. Ross played a lead-ing role, helping shape U.S. involve-ment in the struggle toward peaceful resolution of an ages-old conflict, as this country's Mid-dle East point man in both the Clinton and Bush admini-strations. He will share his perspective and insights on the potential for peace, and the path to get there, Wednesday, April 21st at Temple Beth Sholom. His lecture, "Middle East Peace: The Role of the United States" is sponsored by the Shirley and Sidney Chaplin Lecture Series, and is open to the public. A highly skilled diplomat, Ross was an architect of the peace process. He was instrumental in Israelis and Palestinians reaching a 1995 Interim Agreement, and helped broker the Hebron Accord in 1997. He facilitated the Israeli- Jordan peace treaty and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria closer. Dennis Ross was right there, through the negotiations; credited for managing the peace process through periods of crisis and stalemate. His approach centered on making progress wher-ever possible, building new baselines of under-standing, and refusing to accept failure as an option. Ross currently serves as Director and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow of the Washington Insti-tute for Near East Pol-icy. He is also the first chairman of a new Jerusalem-based think tank, the Institute for Jewish Peo-ple Policy Planning, funded and founded by the Jewish Agency. Additionally, Ross is a Foreign Affairs Analyst for Fox News Channel, as well as a frequent commentator in The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is near-ing completion of a book entitled "The Missing Peace", to be published Au-gust, 2004. The lecture is scheduled for Wednes-day, April 21st at 7:00PM. For further information, contact the Temple Beth Sholom office at (702) 804.1333, or its web site at www.bethsholomlv.org. Religious School?7 Tu B'shevat, our New Year of Trees, is such a great holiday. I was watching our students with their families celebrate our wonderful Tu B'shevat Seder and was thinking about how mar-velous it is to be able to witness these special "Zman Kadosh" holy moments. I was thinking a lot about the blessing which we recited that morning... o b i v n IT b o w r r i b N ? D J I N " r n n T T I v v ?? v: t T - ? T i ?? T ? : ?? Blessed is the Holy One of Being, our God of the Universe who created the fruit of the tree. There's a wonderful Talmudic tale about a young man, Choni, who comes upon an old man hard at work planting carob seeds. Perplexed that such a very old man would work so hard to plant such a young tree, he asks, "How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?" "Seventy years," the old man replied. "Do you really believe," asked Choni, "that you will live another 70 years to see the tree bear fruit?" "Of course not. When I came into this world," the old man answered, "I found carob trees already growing and bearing fruit, planted by my fathers before me. Therefore, I too, plant carob trees so that they may grow here." And so here we are in this wonderful desert they call Las Vegas planting the seeds of our great tradition of learning and of Mitzvot together in our Beth Sholom Community and in our Religious School. And I was thinking about all of the wonderful teachers and parents whose seeds are being sown in holiness, growing right before my eyes, and in my heart and in my soul. Seeds that have grown in such surprising ways?one never knows when and where seeds will sprout. The fruit of our tree of life was represented that morning in the smiles and deeds of our children. And I was so grateful this Tu B'shevat for the wonder of those seeds we watch grow strong, so that our future generations may enjoy their shade and delicious fruit. B'vracha Ayelet Blit Cantor Daniel leads the Tu B'Shvat Sedder The Michelmans, the Scheffers, & Tad Lewis are enjoying the Seder February 2004 8- Moses/ March Madness MOSES REPAIRED In the rotunda leading into the Steinberg Chapel is a niche in one of the walls. Moses has resided there - broken and without purpose. He stood with a single arm stretched over his head - the victim of a careless workman's moment of distraction. In that brief moment, Moses, Avineu Rabbenu, lost his left arm and his precious scrolls. Now, admittedly, Moses smashed the first set - but that was his choice, not that of a maintenance man. And when he did smash them, he did so to teach us all a lesson, not to maim a beautiful work of art presented to the shul by Ruth Goldfarb. And so he stood until Ruth was able to locate a glassmaker of high enough quality to restore Moses to his former glory. That was no easy job. But Jim Forney and Toni Craft, fine glassmiths, sought to match the fine Italian glass of Moses' body and to reproduce the scroll held over his head. It was a painstaking job. But now you can see the result of all that work. The light of Moses has now been restored. His purpose has once more emerged, and we, at TBS, have another fine work of art to admire and inspire us. Take time to stand before this remarkable piece, and thank you Ruth for giving us the unending pleasure of this fine work of art. For the past few years March Madness (cont'd from Page 3) We take to the courts again on Sunday, March 21, only this is a moot court, not a basketball court. Here ye, hear ye, all gather for the case of The People vs. Abraham. In connection with our Torat Chayim (Torah of Life) program TBS is examining Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac. Was it a crime? How is it ethically viewed in today's society? What about Isaac and Sarah - didn't Abraham, our revered patriarch, act in an abu-sive way to his child and wife? Listen and judge. Become part of the jury deciding the issues before Judge Joseph Wapner. Mayor Oscar Goodman once again speaks for the accused, and Judge Michael Cherry seeks justice for the People. Then you decide. This is a unique opportunity to learn and analyze one of the greatest ethical questions in Judaism. And it's all yours for a mere $18, which in-cludes a continental breakfast. Come and join us at 9 AM. And for the finals, we witness Cantor Alberto Mizrahi and Cantor Daniel Friedman on Sunday, March 28, at 3 PM at the Orleans Showroom. This promises to be a musical spectacular which you won't want to miss. The Jewish Pavarotti and Vegas' Velvet Voice join to entertain, inspire and surprise. This also marks the debut of the TBS Adult Choir. This one requires purchase of tickets. Call the office for availability and pricing (804-1333). If, after all this excitement, you still have energy enough for the Final Four, there's good news. You can attend every event and not miss the semi-finals or the finals of the NCAA, because this year March Mad-ness ends in April (3 and 5). (Don't ask us - ask the NCAA.) You are the big winner of this year's March/ April Madness. TBS Men's Club ?9 TBS Men's Club February proved to be an exciting month for the TBS Men's Club. We had many varied activities. Sunday, February 1 we participated in the "Men's Club World Wide Wrap (Tefillin)." On February 18, we had our usual dinner meeting with a special speaker, Scott Langsner. He brought us up to date on the financing and operation of our new Vegas monorail. February 22 was the regional raffle drawing, the winner of which we don't know as yet. Sunday, February 29 was our TBS Men's Club sponsored Hockey outing at the Orleans. Almost 70 attended. As busy as February was, March will bring even more Men's Club events to the Temple. Wednesday, March 3 - 7 PM We are helping sponsor author Fern Schumer Chapman dis-cussing her book, "Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust: A Mother- Daughter Journey to Reclaim the Past." Wednesday, March 10 - Our beloved mayor, Temple and Men's Club member, Oscar Goodman, will speak. The entire congregation is invited and there will be a light meal at 6:30 PM, and Oscar talking about some-thing exciting and controversial at 7 PM. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, March 16,17,18- Performances by Len Barron. See Page 3 for details. Saturday, April 3 - Men's Club Shabbat. All Men's Club members and their families are urged to participate!! Please don't forget our future activities: May, 2004 - Start of the Men's Club Sponsored softball team. Men's Club members are en-couraged to contact the office or Jeff Michelman if they would like to play. There will be 14 local games, and this will be your chance to become famous. Sunday, May 16 - Men's Club sponsored Temple-wide "51's" Baseball Out-ing. This will be an afternoon game at Cashman Field at Noon. The tickets will run $12 + tax and will be GREAT!! - behind home plate and under the awning!! Rabbi Goodman will throw the first pitch and will try to reach home plate this year. February 2004 10?Tributes, donations & from the heart PRESCHOOL EDUCATION FUND Sally & Norman Venger In Honor of: Robert L. Frost Sandy & Stan Mallin Roni & Randy Tarr Barbara Beckenstein Sultana Gabay In Memory of: Ralph Gabay Leah Mondry Frank Galsky Andrea, Richard, Drake Yvette & Gale Galsky & Scarlett Gordon Frank Ganca RABBI'S DISCRETIONARY FUND Ralph Gabay Thank You: Sadie Glick Blanche Meisel Dee & Fred Glick Evelyn Shafer Frances L. Greenfield An Aliyah: June Colodny Sally & Dick Eskenazi Martin Hager In Memory of: Shirley & Sidney Chaplin Max Phillips Pearl Hodes Sam Dvorak Priscilla & Abe Hodes Lily Phillips Marcella Hoffman William Kraft Ruth & Joel Hoffman Wendy Kraft, Laura Sussman Benjamin Horowitz Elyse, Leah & Emma Nancy Horowitz In Honor of: Benjamin Jones Alissa Kramer's marriage Esther Frankenstein Renee & Joe Premack Marlene & Maury Jones Gloria Mintz being ordained Elizabeth Kahn Charlotte & Sam Showel Priscilla & Abe Hodes CANTOR'S DISCRETIONARY FUND Nathan Katz In Honor of: Miriam Katz Cantor & Kevyn's marriage Goldie Kornfeld Louise & Jerry Appenzeller Edith & Allan Bloomberg In Memory of: Avis M. Fletcher-Lasky Abe Toscher Marshall Lasky Geraldine Toscher Moses Lederer YAHRZEIT/MEMORIAL FUND Debbie Lederer In Memory of: Yetta Leitner Max Antonos Murray Leitner Celia Rubin Lillie Littman David Barnes Irving Littman Cathy & Larry Concors Dennis Mack Mary Barron Judy & Ron Mack Phyllis Starr Louis Mallin Minnie Barsky Sandra & Stan Mallin May Mushkin & Family Julia Novak Ida Berger Judith Cornett Samuel Berger Max Post Florence & Irving Berger Pat & Don Gordon Mildred Breyer Nathan Robinson Dr. Michael Breyer Marcy & Jerry Samoiloff Ben Brown Sol Rosengarten Roz Teitelbaum Nancy & Albert Rosten Jean Caplan Rose Rudolf Brenda & Myron Caplan Clarice Kirsch Howard Caplan Alexander Salton John G. Celata Adele Baratz Lilyan Celata Charles Salton Phil Delmont Lillian Shaikin Steve Delmont Elliot Shaikin Marion Devore Leonard Shedler Lee & Ed Devore Gerilen Shedler Irene Dvorak Max Showel The Dvorak Family Charlotte & Sam Showel Irene Dwosh Jennie Shulman Marcy & Jack Simon Debbie Lederer Esther Eskenazi Harriet Silver Sally & Dick Eskenazi Paul Schmier Fredericke Fleischmann Max Stall, O.D. Lizzi Gelbard Robin Stall Jack I. Friedman Joseph Stern Leah Nevis Friedman Dr. Albert & Nancy Rosten Evelyn Simon Jack Simon GENERAL FUND Carol & Wlfred Kolko Lillian Zentner An Aliyah: Sally & Dick Eskenazi In Honor of: Adele Baratz Fran Levien Natalie & Art Berger Dr. Leon & Faye Steinberg Sally & Dick Eskenazi Barry Jonas HEATHER SAXE SCHOLARSHIP FUND In Honor of: In Memory of: Helen Lepofsky Jack Backalar Andrea, Richard, Drake & Scarlett Gordon The Somers Family J.T. Moran's Grandmother Andrea, Richard, Drake & Scarlett Gordon David Rest The Somers Family Yetta Rubin Annette & Jerry Rubin Becky's Solomon's Grandfather The Somers Family WARSAW REMEMBRANCE GARDEN In Honor of: Sidney Chaplin's Birthday Susan & Hillel Aronson Lit & Ken Glicken Edythe & Irwin Goldberg Emily & Harry Lembeck Coralie Hager Carol Jeffries Irv Herman Faye & Leon Steinberg Louise & Jerry Appenzeller Elaine & Irv Steinberg In Memory of: Peter Engler's Mother Evelyn & Leon Goldsein Kate Gutenstein Sally & Dick Eskenazi Maury Pastor Louise & Jerry Appenzeller L'DOR V'DOR In Memory of: Abe Toscher Ruth Goldfarb Hazel & Harold Handelman THE MAINI FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP FUND In Memory of: The Maini Family Lynda Julia Bobka SHIRIM HAYIM CONCERT Sally & Dick Eskenazi Steven Eskenazi Foundation M. HALPERN PARK In Honor of: Noah's Birthday Staci Columbo Rabbi's Message Cont'd?11 (Rabbi's Message cont'd) map that was presented to the sides in May 2003. Had there been no terrorism, Israel would not have been compelled to build a fence to protect its citizens. The Pal-estinians must dismantle the terrorist organizations, confis-cate weapons, arrest the planners and perpetrators of ter-rorist acts, stop incitement and resume security coopera-tion with Israel; all these steps are required by the Road-map. These measures are imperative for renewing the peace process. The route of the fence has been deter-mined solely on the basis of security needs and topog-raphical considerations. The fence is being built in such a way that, if necessary, the relevant parts can be moved to different locations. In this context, it will be remembered that when Israel with-drew from southern Lebanon, in fulfillment of UN Security Council Resolution 425, the UN delineated the border be-tween Israel and Lebanon. Israel moved its security fence, sometimes only a few meters, to comply with the new bor-der. Israel has made the use of public lands a priority in build-ing the security fence, in order to avoid, as much as possi-ble, the use of private lands. If this is not possible, then private land is requisitioned, not confiscated, and it remains the property of the owner. Legal procedures allow every owner to file an objection to the use of their land. When private lands are used, owners are offered full compensa-tion, in accordance with the law; this compensation is of-fered both as a lump sum and also no a monthly basis. In addition to its efforts to ensure the security of its citi-zens, Israel attaches considerable importance to the inter-ests of the local Palestinian residents. Israel recognizes the necessity of finding an appropriate balance between the imperative need to prevent terrorism and defend its citizens, and the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians. Most Palestinians will be on the eastern side of the fence. They will not be cut off from their commercial and urban centers. No Palestinians will have to relocate. Israel will make every effort to avoid causing hardship and inter-ference with their daily lives. Dozens of crossing points have been set up to enable the movement of people and goods. The security fence was located, to the greatest possible degree, on unused land to avoid harming agriculture. Palestinian farms will have ac-cess to their fields and will reach them through special gates that are being built into the fence. Trees affected by the construction will be replanted. The security fence has only one purpose: to keep the terrorists out and thereby save the lives of Israel's citizens, Jews and Arabs alike. The security fence is not an obstacle to peace, as the Pal-estinians are trying to portray it. In fact, by providing a bar-rier to terrorism, it will help restore quiet to the region and thereby increase the chances of achieving peace. It will not create permanent facts on the grounds that will affect the outcome of negotiations. The Palestinians seek to blame Israel, the victim of terror-ism that is taking a purely defensive measure. Moreover, they ignore the hundreds of innocent victims murdered by Palestinian terrorism emanating from the West Bank. There would have been no need for a security fence had there not been an orchestrated campaign of terrorism that targets Israeli men, women and children for death. Death is permanent. It is irreversible. The incon-venience caused to Palestinians by the security fence is temporary and reversible, once terrorism stops and peace is achieved. The security fence would not have been needed had there been no terrorism against innocent Israelis. The fence is not a border. The border will be determined by negotia-tions. The Palestinians will not be cut off from their fields, places of commerce and urban centers. The terrorists tar-get their victims for death. Death is irreversible. Inconven-iences caused by the fence are reversible. The right to live free from terrorism must take precedence. A legitimate temporary security measure, the fence will help to end ter-ror and restore calm - steps that are necessary for renew-ing the peace process. February 2004 12?Preschool The children in the Early Childhood Center are so fortunate to be a part of such an amazing program. The preschool offers the children so many op-portunities to learn, have fun, and experience a true Judaic experience. Rabbit's Tu'Shevat Family Tree The children loved learning about TuB'Shevat. They planted seeds and learned about horticulture, weather, and even their own genealogy. Have you seen some of those adorable pictures in their fam-ily trees? Even our 2 year olds had their families represented in their class collage. We are excited about all of the exciting plans that the teachers have for Purim. We are making crowns, groggers, and learning about the Megillah. And let's not forget how much we enjoy shouting Hamen's name and Booo-ing throughout the preschool halls for our famous Purim Parade! There's something to be said about ear