USCJ eNews: The United Synagogue Electronic Bulletin
In This Issue:
Early Childhood Directors Meet - As the Jewish Educators’ Assembly meets in Teaneck, New Jersey, from February 4 to February 7 for its annual conference, the first annual United Synagogue Early Childhood Directors’ Conference will meet there as well, holding its own conference-within-a-conference. For information, email Maxine Handelman at handelman@uscj.org or call her at 847-641-9963.
Help Fix the World in February - Tzohar Biloxi, United Synagogue’s program to help clean up the hurricane damage in Biloxi, Mississippi, one ruined house at a time, will send a group of volunteers there from February 18 to February 21. The program is spearheaded by our New Jersey region; everyone, from all over the continent, is welcome to join us. We will arrive on Sunday and work until Tuesday; on Wednesday we will tour the storm-struck area. We’ll stay at a hotel and meet members of Congregation Beth Israel, which is affiliated with United Synagogue. For more information call Dr. Richard Lederman, the head of our public policy and social action committee, at 301 230-0801, or email him at lederman@uscj.org.
Koach Kallah - The 2007 Koach Kallah is set for February 22 to February 25 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Students from across North America will gather for a Shabbat full of ruach, study, music, davvening, and lots of fun. Rabbi Pamela Barmash, the director of Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern studies at Washington University in St. Louis, will be scholar-in-residence; Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig are artists-in-residence. For more information, go to www.koach.org or email koach@uscj.org.
Act Now, Study in Israel with Hazak This Summer! - Conservative Jews 55 and older are invited to study at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center this June.
Sulam - Sulam, the training program that helps new synagogue leaders climb the ladder of Jewish knowledge and practice, will be held twice in 2007. The first session, March 8 to March 11 in Newark, New Jersey, is sold out; please plan to join us from March 15 to March 18 in Toronto, Ontario.
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.
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.
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 Summer Programs on Three Continents Filling Quickly - This summer, United Synagogue Youth is offering trips across North America, Israel, and Europe. Summer 2007 programs include USY on Wheels; USY on Wheels Mission Mitzvah; USY Wheels East; Summer in the City; Outdoor Adventure Pacific Northwest; USY Israel Adventure; Spain/Israel Pilgrimage; Eastern Europe/Israel Pilgrimage; Northern Exposure; Israel Pilgrimage/Poland Seminar, and Etgar Outdoor Adventure Israel. Our summer travel programs offer the best in staffing, security, transportation, lodging, and sightseeing.
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!
Israel Commission To Match Ethiopian Israelis, North American Congregations - United Synagogue’s new Israel Commission is planning to help strengthen the Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel and it strengthens the bonds that tie North American Jews to Israel. The program, called Family Education Initiative, or FEI, will begin soon; we will keep you posted.
United Synagogue’s regional leaders discussed the program during the Council of Regional Presidents’ trip to Israel in January. (Read the story.) Here, celebrating the program’s birth, are United Synagogue’s executive vice president, Rabbi Jerome Epstein; Rabbi Yafet Alemu, the first Ethiopian graduate of Machon Schechter, the Conservative movement’s rabbinical seminary in Israel; the chair of the Council of Regional Presidents, Paul Kochberg; United Synagogue’s international president, Dr. Raymond Goldstein, and the Israel Commission’s director, Rabbi Paul Freedman.
Public Policy Commission Endorses Minimum Wage - United Synagogue’s Public Policy and Social Action Commission, working jointly with the Reform and Reconstructionist movements and the Presbyterian Church (USA), issued a statement urging Congress to raise the minimum wage.
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.
Meet Our Early Childhood Consultant - On a video, Maxine Handelman, our early childhood consultant, explains how she can help our member synagogues move their preschool programs up the ladder toward greater excellence.
The Council of Regional Presidents Goes to Israel - In January, 39 people, including regional presidents, other regional and international United Synagogue leaders, and some of their spouses, went to Israel.
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, center, speaks to the Council of Regional Presidents as the council’s chair, Paul Kochberg, left, and United Synagogue’s international president, Dr. Raymond Goldstein, look on.
USY International Convention - December 2006 saw United Synagogue Youth’s 56th annual convention. Held in Boston, the convention, which drew over 1,200 USYers and staff, was a great success, including a range of sessions, workshops, opportunities for study, worship, learning, friendship and fun, and culminating in the election of this year’s international officers. Aaron Jacobs of Dallas is the new international president.
Seaboard’s Rock of Ages - More than 250 young Jewish adults went to downtown Baltimore, in our Seaboard region, for the Rock of Ages on the evening of December 24. Instead of the traditional Christmas-Eve-for-Jews menu of Chinese food and a movie, they enjoyed live music from Black Eyed Susan, a top local DJ, and each other’s company. The evening was hosted by Beth El Congregation of Baltimore.
School for Shamashim in Our Canadian Region - Congregations often have members they want to groom for positions of ritual leadership; the Canadian region is helping them teach those skills. Last summer, the first class of the region’s school for shamashim graduated – eight more men and one more woman now know how to act as chazzan sheini, ritual director, or bar/bat mitzvah tutor, or fill other roles for lay leaders. The school meets each July; the program lasts for two years and the student serves an internship. Subjects include nusach for all services, trop for all scrolls and all occasions, and courses in both content and pedagogical methods.
Learning at and about our Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center - The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is immensely proud of its Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, Conservative Jews’ home in the homeland.
- View a poster about the center
Fuchsberg Posters - United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center is always open for visiting Conservative Jews, and we urge you to visit the Center when you next are in Israel. We have a new poster, suitable for use in synagogue bulletins or newsletters, or to be printed out and hung on synagogue walls.
On-Line Tehillim Course at the Fuchsberg Center - The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center’s Conservative Yeshiva is offering a 14-week on-line course on the tehillim, or psalms. The course, set to begin the week of February 11 and run through May, will discuss one psalm each week. Learn more.
Convention Update - Our international biennial convention is just 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.
Results of Survey Co-Sponsored by United Synagogue Released - We co-sponsored a survey of the attitudes of a large number of the Conservative movement’s professional and lay leaders toward the ordination of gay men and lesbians and related subjects. The survey, commissioned by the Jewish Theological Seminary and co-sponsored as well by the Rabbinical Assembly, was conducted by Professor Steven M. Cohen.
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.
New From United Synagogue’s Book Service:
The Challenge of Creation: Judaism’s Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and Evolution. Rabbi Natan Slifkin discusses the science that teaches us about the creation of the universe and the evolution of species; he shows how science makes sense of our world. $29.95
Tanakh – The Holy Scriptures. The Jewish Publication Society’s original translation, based on the Masoretic text, is newly available in leatherette color bindings – red, green, and copper. $35
- 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!
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
Rapaport House
155 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
212.533.7800, ext. 2601
info@uscj.org
