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YOU ARE HERE: eNews >> Archive >> eNews July 07USCJ eNews: The United Synagogue Electronic BulletinJuly 2007
In This Issue: Divesting from Sudan - Although we as Jews are reluctant to endorse divestment efforts and boycotts, the ongoing genocide in Darfur has left our board of directors with no choice but to call for divestment from Sudan. Rally to Free the Soldiers - United Synagogue joins other major Jewish organizations in a rally to demand the release of the prisoners taken by Hamas and Hezbollah last summer. We will meet on Monday, July 16, at noon, at First Avenue and 47 Street in Manhattan, to remind the world that Gil Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev are still in captivity. Sponsors include the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. If you are in or near New York City that day, please join us. Walking With God - Walking With God, a 12-session education program for thinking Jewish adults, a joint project from United Synagogue, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, and the Rabbinical Assembly, is up and ready to be downloaded. Hurricane Relief - It’s been almost two years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, but the devastation is far from cleared. Shir Chadash, the United Synagogue-affiliated New Orleans-area synagogue, still facing formidable challenges, invites you to become a chaver, a friend of the shul, by taking out affiliate membership. Alim Initiative - United Synagogue’s Alim initiative helps create new Conservative synagogues and helps fledgling synagogues grow and flourish. On June 13, it offered a phone-conference marketing seminar, “Marketing Your Emerging Congregation.” The seminar, moderated by marketing professional Jonathan Schreiber, is likely to be available soon as a podcast on United Synagogue’s website. For more information, email Faye Gingold. New Koach Interns - Twenty students have been selected for this year's class of Koach interns, who work closely with Koach staff and Hillel professionals to provide a strong Conservative presence on their college campuses.
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Mishnah Yomit - We offer the opportunity to study a mishnah every day through our Mishnah Yomit program. [ Back to Top ]
USY at Work in New Orleans - In June, 77 USYers and eight staffers from our Seaboard region spent five days working in New Orleans, trying to help clean up some of the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Here, USYers stand in front a wall they have just built. Camp Hazak - In June 140 members of Hazak, United Synagogue’s group for people 55 and older, met at a retreat center in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains for a week of fun, friendship, learning, singing, laughing, studying, praying, and of course eating. A YouTube video gives viewers some feeling for what it was like. Join us next year!
Bringing a Torah to Uganda - On behalf of United Synagogue’s Pacific Southwest region, Hazzan Mike Stein of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, California, will bring a Torah scroll to the Abayudaya tribe of Uganda. Tribal leader and rabbinical student Gershom Sizomu, who is studying at the Ziegler School in Los Angeles and back home in Uganda for the summer, will lead the celebration. Here, Mr. Sizomu and United Synagogue’s Pacific Southwest regional director, Joel Baker, hold the Torah. New Directors’ Institute - Eighteen new religious school directors, from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from as close as suburban New York City, and from many points in between, spent the last week in June at United Synagogue’s headquarters in Manhattan, learning from each other and from master teachers at the New Directors’ Institute.
Snowed Under With Gifts - Rabbi James Lebeau, director of United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, is almost pushed out of his office by the gifts collected through the center’s Gemilut Hesed project. There is a particular need for wedding dresses for a bridal gmach. If you live in Israel or will be traveling there and would like to donate, please email tarbut@uscj.org. Learning and Teaching Rabbinics - Fifty Jewish educators from 24 day schools affiliated with the Solomon Schechter Day School Association spent a June day at a conference on rabbinics. Classes on both practical and theoretical issues were taught by well-known rabbis, scholars, and educators, and the conversation will continue. To learn more, email Dr. Elaine Cohen. [ Back to Top ]
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. Early Childhood at CAJE - Early childhood consultant Maxine Handelman will teach a 9-hour course at the CAJE conference in St. Louis, Missouri, August 5-9. All United Synagogue early childhood educators are invited to lunch at CAJE on Tuesday, August 7. Hazak in the Catskills - Our New York metropolitan region, Metny, invites everyone who is 55 and older to its Hazak summer retreat at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, New York. The retreat is set for Sunday August 5, to Thursday, August 9. The deadline has been extended to July 25. For more information, call Don Schiller at 212-533-7800, ext. 2154, or email schiller@uscj.org. Stained-Glass Calendar - Once again, we are looking for photographs from our member synagogues for our art calendar contest. The calendar for 2008/2009 - 5769 - will focus on stained glass. Please send us your photographs by August 15. And by the way, our 2007/2008 - 5768 calendar is due out soon. 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! USY Convention - United Synagogue Youth’s 57th annual convention is set for December 23-27 in Anaheim, California. USYers are invited to five days of social action projects, summer program reunions, education programs, and more. Go to USY's website, www.usy.org, for updates. Hazak in Israel - United Synagogue and the Hazak group in its metropolitan New York region, Metny, are joining to offer a trip to Israel next winter. Spend February 12 to 24 in Jerusalem; celebrate Shabbat at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, and take day trips around the country. Sulam - United Synagogue’s 2008 program for new synagogue presidents and vice presidents, Sulam, meets in Newark March 6-9 and in Chicago March 27-28. For more information, email Rabbi Moshe Edelman at Edelman@uscj.org. [ Back to Top ]
Naming the Beth T’fillah Office - The director of education at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, Rabbi Edward Romm, grew up belonging to Congregation Beth T’fillah in Overbrook Park, Pennsylvania, where his parents still live. His office was dedicated in memory of that synagogue. Here, one of Beth T’fillah’s last presidents, Rob Zipkin, stands in front of the plaque with Rabbi Romm. Special Programs at Fuchsberg - On Friday, July 13, Rabbi Yisrael (Lee) Levine of the Hebrew University will talk about Jerusalem as it was on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B’Av in the year 70 C.E. After the talk, he will lead a tour of the model of Jerusalem in that period at the Israel Museum. Meet at Fuchsberg at 9 a.m. for the lecture. The cost is 90 NIS inclusive; register in person at Fuchsberg or email romm@uscj.org. On Friday, July 27, at 9 a.m., archeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay of Bar Ilan University, who is the director of the Temple Mount sifting project, will lead a tour of the sifting site in Emek Zurim, near Mount Scopus, in Jerusalem. Meet at Fuchsberg at 9 a.m.; the cost is 90 NIS inclusive. Register in person at Fuchsberg or email romm@uscj.org. 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 backgrounds 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 Agency for 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. [ Back to Top ]
Marking Tisha B’Av - Tisha B’Av, when we mourn the destruction of the Temples and many other calamities of Jewish life, begins at sundown on Monday, July 23, this year. Book Service offers Siddur Tisha B’Av, edited by Dr. David Lincoln. The book includes the complete service for erev Tisha B’Av and for the day that follows; as well as the full text of Eikhah – Lamentations – in both Hebrew and English, with commentary, the volume includes essays on the day’s meaning and observance. $18; bulk orders available. It’s Never Too Early! - Or, at any rate, it’s not too early now to order a lulav and etrog set from Israel. Sukkot begins on at sundown on September 26, and the deadline is September 18. Luah 5768 - Luah 5768, a complete guide to the liturgical year, including information for each week’s Shabbat service, is now available through Book Service. $15.50; bulk orders available. Calendar Diary - The Calendar Diary, which offers useful information about the Jewish year and gives you room to write in your own information, is now available through Book service. $5.95. Learn more about our book service department. [ Back to Top ]
Convention Update - Our international biennial convention is just about half 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. [ Back to Top ]
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