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April 2007

In This Issue:

Pesach What's Happening Calendar Bragging Rights New Ideas

Around the Conservative/Masorti World Fuchsberg Center Around the USCJ With Just One Click Movement News

Pesach

This year, the first seder is on Monday, April 2, chol hamo’ed runs from Wednesday night through Sunday night, and the final days of the chag are from Sunday night to Tuesday night, when it ends. Here are a few last-minute Pesach items.

Praying For the Soldiers - USY’s Israel affairs and religious education committees in our Seaboard region have put together a seder supplement. Please consider using it at your seder table as we pray for freedom for the three Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah last summer.

Kol Dichfin: Finding a Seat at a Seder - All who are hungry, come and eat, the Haggadah tells us every year. Now, for the second year, Project Reconnect offers Kol Dichfin, where alumni of our youth programs can be matched with a seder in a synagogue or private home. If it’s before Passover, it’s still not too late to ask for a match or to offer one.

We wish you all a chag kasher v’sameach.

What's Happening

Israel Commission - United Synagogue’s new Israel Commission is still gathering names of chairs of congregational Israel committees; please send names to Rabbi Paul Freedman. If your congregation is thinking about a communal trip to Israel in the next two years, if you are interested in receiving the Conference of Presidents of Major AmericanJewish Organizations’ emailed Daily Report, or if you want to know more about the commission, please email Rabbi Freedman.

Your Child On Line - The spring 2007 edition of Your Child, our education department’s publication for parents of young Jewish children, is now up. The magazine features articles about activism with young children, tips for a child-friendly seder, an art activity book, and more. If you have any questions or comments on Your Child, please email them to our early childhood consultant, Maxine Handelman.

Call for Photos - Project Reconnect, the Conservative movement’s alumni organization, is looking for old photographs that show our members as they were in USY, Nativ, Schechter schools, Camp Ramah, or other Conservative movement youth programs. Email your photos to Rabbi Paul Freedman.

Help Save Darfur - The desperate situation in Darfur slips in and out of the news; the people stuck there do not have that luxury. For updates about the situation and to learn what we can do to help, we suggest you go to section on Darfur on the American Jewish World Service’s website.

Calendar

Resources for Spring Commemorations - In April, we mark Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 16), Yom HaZikaron (Israel Remembrance Day, April 23), and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day, April 24); May 16 brings us Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.

• Resources for programming and information about those holidays (both in English and in Hebrew)

Solomon Schechter Awards - At our biennial convention, we honor winners of the Solomon Schechter Awards for Synagogue Excellence. We urge our member synagogues to apply for the award. The application deadline is April 27.

Go on Retreat with Hazak This Summer! - Conservative Jews 55 and older are invited to an eight-region retreat in Pennsylvania from June 13 to June 20.

• More information
• Application (due by May 18)

Join Us in Washington on Joint Advocacy Day - United Synagogue teams with our Conservative movement partner, the Rabbinical Assembly, as we go to Washington DC for Advocacy Day. On Advocacy Day – actually two days, June 19 and 20 – we will listen to speakers, learn more about how to advocate effectively, and meet with our representatives to test our newly upgraded skills.

New Directors of Education Institute - If you are a brand-new or even somewhat new director of education or principal at a congregational religious school, consider our intensive five-day New Directors of Education Institute, set for Monday, June 25, through Friday, June 29, at our New York City headquarters, Rapaport House, 155 Fifth Avenue. The institute fills quickly, so act now.

Imun - Imun, the week-long retreat where newly emerging lay leaders can hone their synagogue skills, including layning and writing and delivering a dvar Torah, will meet at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires from July 8 to July 16.

USY Invites Parents to Israel - Once again, USY offers parents the chance to see Israel the USY way. The Parents Pilgrimage to Israel offers parents a 13-day mid-July opportunity to experience Israel as their children do.

USY Trips Filling Fast - Spaces in USY trips fill quickly, but there is still some room left in some programs. To see what’s available, and to register quickly, visit www.usy.org/escape.

Next Year in Israel - Registration has begun for 2007 at Nativ, USY’s college/leadership program in Israel. Participants spend the year between high school and college in Israel. Half of that time they work on a kibbutz or volunteer in a development town; the other half is spent living in Jerusalem, studying at the Hebrew University or the Conservative Yeshiva at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center. Throughout the Nativ program, students engage in special religious and leadership training experiences.

Join Us in Orlando For Our International Convention! - United Synagogue’s international biennial convention is planned for November 29 through December 3 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort and Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. Please plan to be there with us!

• More information

Bragging Rights

	Sulam - This year, 47 new synagogue presidents and presidents-elect came to Newark, New Jersey for Sulam. The intensive four-day program on how to lead synagogues effectively, sympathetically, and successfully is led by United Synagogue’s Rabbi Moshe Edelman, and many other United Synagogue staff members join him on the retreat, which includes Shabbat. A week later, another Sulam program, this one in Toronto, drew another 18 participants. This year’s 65 Sulam students were the biggest class since the program began; it now boasts about 830 graduates. Here, participants and staff members at the intimate Sulam program in Toronto smile together.
	Israeli Women Meet - Through the work of United Synagogue’s Israel Commission, Israeli women of different ethnic backgrounds, including Ethiopians, met for a cooking class.
	Pacific Southwest in Israel - In March, 20 youth directors and advisers, four youth commissioners, some of their spouses, and the president of USY, all from the Pacific Southwest region, went to Israel to experience the country as USYers do. The trip included a stay at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center. Here the group davens at Masada.
	Mitzvah Man Talks in Washington - United Synagogue’s Seaboard region and the area’s Jewish Educators Assembly hosted Mitzvah Man Danny Siegel at a breakfast for educational and youth directors in the Washington, DC, area. Mr. Siegel talked about his project, and everyone left with new ideas to take back to her or her own congregation.
	USY in New Orleans - ECRUSY, the Canadian region's USY region, led by youth director Ariel Greenbaum-Shinder, center, went to New Orleans for four days to work on hurricane relief. Twenty-eight high school students from Hamilton, London, Ottawa, and Toronto went on the trip, working hard and growing and learning in return.

New Ideas

King Tut: Exodus and Egypt - In March, United Synagogue’s Mid-Atlantic region and the local Rabbinical Assembly chapter got together to organize a Conservative movement-wide day at the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The program was enormously successful both in drawing crowds and in cementing connections.

Some of the people who made Exodus in Egypt work in Philadelphia pose together in the Franklin Institute. They are, starting from the left in the front row, Eleanore Besser, Gil Besser, and Harriet Levin. Ruth Anolik, Tami Gross, Bonnie Blyweiss, Eileen Weingram, and Michael Weingram are in the middle row, and Richard Bishop, David Gutin, and Lew Grafman are in the back.

• Read about the program
• Read earlier New Ideas

Around the Conservative/Masorti World

Where In the World Are Conservative/Masorti Synagogues? - We know that our members travel all around the world, and often they look for synagogues where they feel at home. Click here to find a Masorti congregation in Israel; click here to find a Masorti congregation in the rest of the world outside North America.

News of the Movement - To learn more about the activities run by the more than 110 Masorti programs around the world, read the latest Masorti Olami News on Masorti Olami’s website.

Fuchsberg Center

Repeat Your Wedding Promises in Jerusalem - The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center can host re-wedding ceremonies, as well as parties to celebrate all sorts of milestones. Read more.

Summer Programs at the Conservative Yeshiva - The Conservative Yeshiva at United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center is now accepting applications for the 2007 summer program. In the mornings, the program includes four levels of an intensive ulpan and both beginning and advanced levels of Talmud study. In the afternoons, the Yeshiva offers classes in Mishnah, midrash, Tanach, halakha, and tefillah.

The program, for adults of all ages and backgrounds, has two three-week sessions, July 1 to July 19 and July 22 to August 9. For more information about the program, tuition, and scholarships, email yeshiva@uscj.org, call 972-2-622-3116, or go to the Yeshiva's website.

Study in Jerusalem this Fall! - The Conservative Yeshiva at United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center is now accepting applications for fall 2007. The Yeshiva offers Jews of all background the opportunity to study classic Jewish texts in a vibrant, open-minded egalitarian community. The curriculum focuses on teaching Tanach, Talmud, halakha, and Jewish philosophy, and includes the skills necessary for that study.

Courses are taught at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, and the program includes a daily minyan, volunteer projects, and trips. Students between 18 and 30 years old are eligible for scholarships from the Jewish Agencyfor Israel, and the Yeshiva is offering three full scholarships as well.

For more information and an application, email yeshiva@uscj.org, call 972-2-622-3116, or go to the Yeshiva's website.

Around the USCJ

Convention Update - Our international biennial convention is less than a year away, and preparations are ramping up. This convention will be held over Shabbat, letting us experience the beauty and wonder and joy of that day together.

To learn more about the convention, which will be held from November 29 to December 3, 2007, in Orlando, Florida, take a look at our convention e-newsletter. As our plans develop, we’ll keep you posted.

Nativ Offers New Option - Nativ, USY’s yearlong program in Israel, has added a track; now students can take the Ulpan/Community Service option in the fall. It joins the classic Nativ and full-year yeshiva options.

With Just One Click

• Take advantage of free Internet hosting services to affiliated synagogues, USY chapters and afternoon/day schools
• Get suggestions for building a Jewish home library; great ideas for gift giving as well!

Movement News

Save the Date - Mark your calendars, update your PDAs, fill in your datebooks. United Synagogue’s next biennial convention will be held from Thursday, Nov. 29 - Monday, Dec. 3, 2007, at the new Rosen Shingle Creek Resort and Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. We look forward to seeing you there. The convention will be chaired by Carole Korowitz and co-chaired by Rochelle Baltuch.

• Read the Convention e-Newsletter for more information

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
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