Friday Service is Special Event

Religion School Reminder

Sisterhood news

Maggie Anton Plans —  The Sisterhood program planning committee met recently to prepare hosting the event for author Maggie Anton at Shomrei Torah on February 24. At the meeting, we decided that the event will be community wide. We need your help to make this a success.  If you are interested in helping any way or serving on any of the following committees— hospitality, sponsorship, publicity, house (such as set up, decoration, breakdown) and food please email Debbie Robinson at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

 January Game Night-   We are planning a game night in January. If there are any expert Mah Jon players who want to teach others, please email Debbie Robinson at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

LAST CALL TO PAY SISTERHOOD DUES!! This is the LAST call for Sisterhood dues! If you have not already paid your Sisterhood dues for 09-10, please send your check for $36 payable to ‘Shomrei Torah Sisterhood.’ Please send to the Shomrei Torah Office.

 Don’t forget about sponsoring an Oneg Shabbat (or two) in 2010.

Please call Susan Bodell at 385-1075 to select an Oneg Shabbat date in honor of a birthday, anniversary, simcha or other occasion.

Notes of Appreciation

By the way ...

Latke Bar is Tonight

Party is Tomorrow

No Religion School Sunday

Monday's Schedule Change

Better Late Than Never

Below is a link to the National Public Radio interview with our own Ann & Jeff VanderMeer that aired on Nov. 29. Unfortunately, it got lost in a flurry of other emails and much to your administrator's embarrassment, was never brought to the attention of the Congregation.

With apologies to the VanderMeers ...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120925913&ps=cprs <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120925913&ps=cprs>

     Hanukkah Party Was Great

The Religion School Hanukkah party yesterday was a wonderful success. The children presented a Hanukkah play that explained the origins of the festival, the Men's Club served potato latkes and everyone enjoyed arts and crafts projects developed by teachers and aids. Thank you to everyone who helped make it such great fun.

     Fundraiser on Thursday

You are invited to a fundraiser to support North Florida Legal Service's
efforts to save homes in the Florida Panhandle.
North Florida Legal Services provides free legal representation to indigent individuals and families at risk of losing their homes.
Tickets are by donation ($20 suggested).
at Ray’s Steel City
515 John Knox Road, Tallahassee
*Thursday, December 17^th from 6-9 p.m.*
Come enjoy a gourmet holiday food buffet, Ray's famous potato pancakes, along with good friends and a joyous holiday celebration.

Cash bar will be available.



*$20 Tickets are available by calling Mary Dekle at (850) 701-3313 or e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it <mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . – or at the LSNF offices on Delta Boulevard. Visa & MasterCard, checks and cash are accepted and all funds will go towards LSNF’s Homelessness Prevention Project.*
**

     Coming Up

Rabbi Daniel Stein will be visiting this weekend. He will arrive on Friday, Dec. 18, and will be available in the afternoon for one-on-one consultations. Please call the office to schedule an appointment.

The weekend schedule of events is as follows;

Shabbat Dinner/Sisterhood Latke Bar at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18
Regular Friday services at 8 p.m.
Saturday Morning Service at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 19
Immediately after the service, Kiddush Lunch and then a learning opportunity with Rabbi Stein

On Saturday evening at 7:30, the Congregation is invited to the home of Debbie and Joe Robinson for a Hanukkah Party with Rabbi Stein. Please RSVP to the Robinsons and bring a dish of your family's favorite Hanukkah food.


     Religion School Schedule

We WILL have Religion School classes this Wednesday, but not on Sunday, which will mark the beginning of our Winter Break.

End of Week Announcements

Time for Party

RSVP Deadline Today

A Holiday View From Israel

(Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, has made Aliyah with his family and is now living in Israel as the director of Israel Programs for JTS.  He will continue to send updates about life in Israel on a regular basis.)

A View from Jerusalem: Hanukkah in Israel by Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, Director of Israel Programs, JTS

Driving into Jerusalem tonight, I was struck by the decorative hanukkiot (menorahs) illuminating the road leading into the city. Had I been in my native United States of America, it is not the songs and decorations of the Festival of Lights that I would be surrounded by—rather it would be Christmas carols, pine trees, and ornaments—reinforcing the folkways of the majority culture. Jews have finally come home—and part of the gift that such a homecoming entails is living according the natural rhythm of one’s festivals. Our four-year-old daughter Rachel has already begun humming and singing the lyrics of numerous Israeli Hanukkah songs. Today, she came home with a decorated sword and shield, recounting the tale of the Maccabees waging their battles against the Yevanim (the Greeks). Adir, our ten year old, is learning the halakhot, Jewish laws related to lighting the hanukkiah (menorah) and the central mitzvah of pirsumei nisa (publicizing the miracle of Hanukkah). Soufganiot (doughnuts) have been in the bakeries for two weeks already, and there is a sense that everyone is preparing for Hanukkah together.

One of the most vivid images and experiences I cherish comes from our Hanukkah celebration of last year. On the eighth and final night of the holiday, I took two of our three children to the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhood of Mea Shearim. We arrived in this section of Jerusalem just as the sun was setting and people began rushing to prepare for the lighting of their hanukkiot. Since the core mitzvah of the holiday is publicizing the miracle, hanukkiot are lit in glass display cases outside of the home. Typically, they are hung in open courtyards so that as many passersby as possible can enjoy the glow and warmth of their lights. And since the miracle on which Hanukkah is based revolved around a flask of oil, it is oil hanukkiot that are most popular. Most palpable is the feeling of being embraced by a nation.

At the same time, I remain cognizant of the nuanced view of the Hanukkah story that has so much to teach modern Israelis. Were the Maccabees religious extremists deserving of censure or heroic freedom fighters worthy of emulation? (For a worthy and important conversation on this topic, see “Insight Israel: The View from Schechter” by Rabbi David Golinkin, in which he republishes a debate he had with Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz on this topic (The Jerusalem Report, December 31, 2001); both stake out well-argued positions.

Such a debate speaks to some of the tensions resident in modern-day Israel. The battle between the Maccabees and the Greeks certainly does not seem as clear cut today as when I was a child. Hellenistic culture has added a great deal to our world, and yes, it has enriched and shaped the development of Judaism.

To what extent can and should Israel be influenced by other cultures—especially the West? Should the response be one of fighting fiercely against foreign influences, or should we be much more embracing and nuanced in our approach? How do we learn to live in creative tension with larger cultures? (The most important book on this topic is Milton Steinberg’s classic, As a Driven Leaf.) And how should we, as people, deal with religious extremists in our midst? One of the ways such tension is expressing itself is with regard to some calls from the Orthodox community in Israel to refuse government orders pertaining to the evacuation of settlements. Are such soldiers modern-day Maccabees (heroes in the eyes of some Israelis) or latter-day Samsons who are liable to take down an entire people with them?

And of course, there is Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured on June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants. These days Gilad is on the minds of every single Israeli. When an Israeli parent looks at the image of Gilad Shalit, s/he sees his/her own child. Children are our lights in this world. We hope and pray that the light of Gilad Shalit returns home speedily. May this wish and prayer be fulfilled over our celebration of Hanukkah.

Hag Urim Sameah m’Yerushalyim!

Best wishes for a joyous Festival of Lights from Jerusalem!