USCJ eNews: The United Synagogue Electronic Bulletin
In This Issue:
2009 International Biennial Convention - We're meeting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, December 6 to 10. Read about it and join us!
CJ’s Coming! - Who is this woman, and why is she on the cover of CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism? What do college students think of Conservative Judaism? Why did five Conservative rabbis made aliyah? What threat does Israel’s Ministry for Religious Affairs pose to us? Why did the cantors go to Poland? What’s Chanukah without latkes? The answers to these and other questions are in the next issue of CJ, due in your mailbox next week. Look out for it.
Meet the Jewish Community of Cuba - United Synagogue’s Southeast region offers our third mission to Cuba, set for February 1 to February 8. Learn, help, share, meet, and experience the Jewish communities of Havana, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad de Cuba. Call Harry Silverman at 561 372-0420 or email him.
Pictures of Conservative Jews - We know that we are Jews, so Jews look like us, but often when we search for images of Jews online, looking for illustrations for our publications, all we get is men in black hats, without or without flying payes. We’re trying to fix that. Here is a link to pictures you can use, and we would love to have you send us pictures. Just please make sure that you have permission to put those pictures in the public domain. Email Rabbi Paul Drazen with questions or suggestions.
Insurance for Congregations - Through our Project Ezra, United Synagogue now offers member congregations a comprehensive property and casualty insurance program. For information, email or call 646 519-9200.
Jews and Public Policy - Registration soon will open for Setting the Agenda: Jews and Public Policy, the Koach kallah scheduled for March 4-7 at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center in Reisterstown, Maryland. Koach is United Synagogue’s program for college students.
Theft From a Thief - Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, the director of the Conservative Yeshiva at United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, will spend the month of November in the northeastern United States. Students at Brandeis, Harvard, Smith, Boston University, Yale, and NYU all will have the chance to learn with him as he teaches about Theft From a Thief. The trip was arranged by Koach.
Send Us Your Art! - We’re still looking for photographs of art from our member synagogues for the 5771 2010/11 United Synagogue calendar. Email us your entries. The deadline is November 30.
Vison for Early Childhood Programs - Maxine Handelman, our early childhood consultant, wrote her Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide, along with the accompanying directors’ manual. They are meant for anyone involved with early childhood education in Conservative settings. (Note that the Vision is huge and downloads slowly.) She also began a series of stand-alone webinars in October that will run through February.
Koach Shabbat - Koach’s Shabbat program is set for November 6-7 on college campuses across North America. The theme is Acting Justly: Preserving Human Dignity In an Undignified World, and the study material will be drawn from the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies’ program called Walking With Justice.
Early Childhood Educators’ Dinner - Join other United Synagogue early childhood directors for dinner and discussion in Washington, DC, on November 18, during the NAEYC convention.
Conference Call on Membership - Barry Mael, our chief service delivery officer, will lead a conference call on sustaining membership efforts all year long on Monday, November 30, from 8:30 to 9:15 p.m., eastern standard time. It is open to membership committee chairs from our affiliated synagogues who subscribe to our membership listserv. Email to register.
2009 International Biennial Convention - United Synagogue’s biennial convention, where leaders from across the continent gather to learn, study, network, share, and grow as Conservative Jews, is set for December 6 through 10 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We’ll keep you updated as our plans develop.
Day School Leadership Conference - Leaders of day schools across the Jewish world meet in New York January 17-19 to explore way to thrive in today's new economic and demographic reality. Partners include the Solomon Schechter Day School Association.
Hazak Goes to Israel - Hazak, for people 55 and older, is going on its annual trip to Israel from January 17 to 28, 2010.
Shabbat Dinner at the Olympics - If you are planning on being at the Olympics in Vancouver, Congregation Beth Israel invites you to Shabbat dinner on February 19. Reservations are due by February 15. Email for information.
Boot Camp for New Presidents - Sulam, our intensive training program for new synagogue presidents and vice presidents, will meet twice this year as always, but in new venues. Sulam 36 is set for March 4 through 7 at the American Jewish University Conference Center in Los Angeles, and Sulam 37, April 22 through April 25, will be at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center in Reisterstown, Maryland. In acknowledgment of the new economic realities, the price has been reduced. Email Rabbi Moshe Edelman for information.
Hazak Goes to Camp - Hazak, for people 55 and older, invites you to camp at Block and Hexter Vacation Center Center in Poyntelle, Pennsylvania, for a week of fun, friends, music, learning, and food, from June 30 to July 7, 2010. Email Jo-Anne Tucker-Zemlak for more information or a reservation.
Luncheon with New Jersey Rabbis - In October, New Jersey’s Conservative rabbis met our new executive vice president, Rabbi Steven Wernick, at a luncheon co-sponsored with the region’s Rabbinical Assembly. Here, from left in the bottom row, are Rabbis David Greenstein (Montclair), Joshua Finkelstein (Franklin Lakes), Michael Goldstein (Ocean), Steven Wernick, Toni Shy (Marlboro), Melinda Zalma (Perth Amboy), and Jay Kornsold (East Windsor). In the back row, from left, are Rabbis Ron Isaacs (Bridgewater), Avi Friedman (Summit), Randall Mark (Wayne), David-Seth Kirshner (Closter), Benjamin Adler (Rockaway), Gordon Yaffe (Oakhurst), Aaron Benson (East Brunswick), Eli Garfinkel (Somerset), Ron Roth (Fair Lawn), Eliot Malomet (Highland Park), Mark Mallach (Springfield), Michael Pont (Aberdeen), David Saltzman (Ringwood), Alan Silverstein (Caldwell), Mark Biller (Morris Plains), David Senter (Pompton Lakes), Lawrence Troster (Greenfaith), Arthur Weiner (Paramus), and David Fine (Ringwood).
Pinwheel USY Fall Kinnus - About 90 Pinwheel USYers and staff, right, had fun at a Shabbaton in Camp Solomon Schechter in Washington State. The theme was Making Sense of Israel.
Environmental Activism on Cape Ann - Students at the religious school at Temple Ahavat Achim in Gloucester, Massachusetts, left, led by their teacher, Carmel Valianti, have been working on tikkun olam, repairing the world, by combining environmental activism with solar technologies, helping reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
From the 59th annual convention, which will pull more than 1,000 students and staff to Chicago from December 27 to 31, to the seemingly-incredibly-far-off-but-actually-not summer of 2010, with its mix of new trips and old favorites, United Synagogue Youth is hopping.
Early-bird registration for the summer has begun. High-school students can explore the spectacular natural wonders of the northern Pacific coast in our new four-week USY on Wheels, Pacific Northwest, spend five weeks exploring Israel in new ways on USY Israel Adventure Plus, or chose any of our other programs.
For new high-school graduates who want to spend a year in Israel before heading off to college, USY’s Nativ offers options – the classic program and Nativ Gesher, where students spend the first semester in Jerusalem and the second in Masorti communities in Europe.
United Synagogue’s Israel Commission offers Two Minutes of Israel, talks that we encourage congregational Israel Affairs chairs to give at their synagogue board meetings and to distribute to others in their communities.
The commission also is eager to welcome visitors to Israel, and is glad to help arrange visits to our Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, home of the Conservative Yeshiva and many other wonderful United Synagogue programs. The Fucshberg Center is where vibrant Conservative Jewish life flourishes in Israel. For more information of help arranging a trip, email the commission’s director, Rabbi Paul Freedman.
United Synagogue Tallit - You can celebrate a simcha by giving your synagogue president – or treating yourself! – to a personalized United Synagogue tallit, with United Synagogue’s logo, your name, and, if you like, yoursynagogue’s logo.
- Take advantage of free Internet hosting services to affiliated synagogues, USY chapters and afternoon/day schools
- Got two minutes? Get some Torah! Enjoy our weekly podcast and sign up for email alerts. www.koach.org
