End of School Year Religious School News

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

In this often-worrisome world, the light of our small school shines ever brightly. Our children get to “be Jewish” and “do Jewish” together in an environment of acceptance and belonging; and as another year comes to a close, I am so proud of our religious school community.

For families and teachers alike, religious school is only one of many commitments that make demands on our time and energy. I’ve watched students arrive in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings looking tired, perhaps not yet fully awake. Fast-forward three hours and they’re energized, talking and laughing as they head out to resume the rest of their lives. They have been learning with their minds and their voices and their creativity. They have been singing and praying. They have donated tzedakah for the benefit of others. They have helped each other when help was needed. They have come up with ideas the rest of us hadn’t thought of. They have been striving to understand and to learn. They have been continually interacting, and wondering, and questioning. All of this is part of developing a Jewish identity, of becoming a mensch, of ensuring a future for our Jewish tradition.

Here’s the thing: the ongoing existence of our religious school depends on continuing as well as new enrollment. We need all of you to help us spread the word! If you know of families with children who might be curious about joining our “being Jewish/doing Jewish” Sundays, please reach out, and encourage them to contact me at adasschool at gmail.com. We are especially looking to re-kindle our K-1 class, as we welcome students of all ages through seventh grade to our religious school.

Thank you’s:

To the parents for all the ways you have volunteered this year–as “parent in charge”–helping with school-wide holiday celebrations, class pot-luck dinners and more. Gratitude abounds especially to the school committee for your leadership and support and incredible hard work.

To each of our amazing teachers for your commitment and creativity. And to the madrichim, our teenage teacher assistants, for your willingness to help with anything that’s needed, and doing it well.

Special thanks to Rabbi Schwartz for his inspired Confirmation class teaching, as they wrap up a year of justice-based learning. To Sabina Albirt and Samantha Rosenbloom who directed this year of socializing and social action with our Youth Group. To Kerri Klein and Jody Pugach who envisioned and implemented the new Mommy/Daddy‘n Me program, led by Reina Stern.

And may I simply add–gratitude to the One, to the very nature of Possibility, and Hope.

Our hearts are full and our spirit is strong! Have a great summer. Cantor Horowitz

Please make a note of these upcoming dates in May and June for our students & families!

Confirmation Class: May 6, 13, 17 (rehearsal)

Friday, May 18: 7:30 PM–Confirmation Service
Sunday, May 20: Last day of school
Saturday, May 26: Bar/Bat Mitzvah of Aaron and Hannah Jacobowitz
Saturday, June 16: Bat Mitzvah of Abigail Boyd

Spring 2018 Religious School News

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

The joy and silliness of Purim having just ended, we now look ahead to Passover at the end of this month. As in previous years we will be putting together a school Passover Seder program with student contributions of music, skits and presentations. We need help from parents with food, setup and cleanup—please check out the Parent Volunteer link and sign up if you can help:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0845a9 aa2caafe3-class

The next Family Service on March 23 will be led by our youngest students from Grade 1-2- 3. Come on out and support them as they lead us in songs and prayers, and provide us with their take on the 10 Plagues!

The April 27 Family Service in celebration of Israel’s 70th birthday will include contributions from each class, as they share sets of 7 facts (one for each decade!) on different aspects of Israel’s life and history. This promises to be an inspiring and enjoyable celebration.

But wait, there’s more! Jordana Marcus is celebrating becoming Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, March 10th. B’nei mitzvah services at Adas Emuno are open to everyone. Our students work hard and we are so proud of them—go Jordana!

Please make a note of these upcoming dates in March and April for our students & families!

Saturday, March 10 
10:00 AM–Bat Mitzvah of Jordana Marcus

Sunday, March 11
Confirmation Class followed by Youth Group activity

Friday, March 23 
7:30 PM—Shabbat Family Service featuring Grades 1-2-3

Sunday, March 25— Religious School Passover Seder

Sunday, April 1 No School

Friday, April 27 
7:30 PM—Shabbat Family Service in celebration of Israel’s 70th Birthday

Sunday, April 8
10:30-12 Confirmation Class with Guest Author Joan Arnay Halperin who will discuss her book, My Sister’s Eyes: A Family Chronicle of Rescue and Loss During World War II. Open to the Congregation.


 School Sundays at 9:15 AM Mommy/Daddy ‘n Me!

 From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

Author, Author!

I have often been struck by the fact that the most sacred object in our sanctuary, the Torah scroll, is a book. Sure, we dress it up nicely with our finest fabrics, decorated with lovely embroidery, and further adorned with silver breast plate and crown, as well as the silver yad or pointer, the silk sash or girdle that binds the scroll and keeps it closed, and the wooden shafts that the scroll is wound around. But it's still a book, a fancy book sure, a sacred book most definitely, but a book nonetheless.

Our worship is centered around the book, as we repeatedly face the Ark that holds the Torah scrolls during our worship services, show our respect by standing whenever the Ark is opened, and show our love by kissing the scrolls when they are carried down to the pews, albeit indirectly by kissing our prayer books. Reading from the Torah is one of our most sacred rituals, and our rite of passage from childhood to adulthood.

Our veneration of books extends to our printed prayer books and bibles, and in our tradition whenever one such text is dropped or falls to the floor, the person picking it up also kisses the book. And these books that contain the name of God are never destroyed when their usefulness is at an end, but rather buried as we would a loved one that has passed on.

Judaism is not the only religion that is centered around a sacred text, and in fact it was the Moslems who referred to Jews and Christians alike as people of the book. But there is something unique and special about our relationship to books, so much so that here in the United States, Jews purchase 23% of all hardcover books published, while we constitute only about 2% of the population.

As a people, we are bibliophiles, booklovers. And we are bookmakers, writers, authors. The Torah features Moses, who took dictation from God, and the Tanach ends with Ezra the Scribe. We gave the world the Bible, including the Christian version, which may be considered the all-time bestseller. More recently, of the 110 Nobel Prizes in Literature given out since 1901, 15 have been awarded to Jews including Henri Bergson, Boris Pasternak, Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Elias Canetti, Joseph Brodsky, Nadine Gordimer, Harold Pinter, Patrick Modiano, and Bob Dylan. (It's often cited that we Jews constitute less than 0.2% of the world's population, while accounting for over 22% of Nobel Prizes awarded in all categories, 11,250% above average.)

It should come as no surprise, then, that we have more than a few published authors among the membership of our Congregation Adas Emuno, not the least of them our own Rabbi Schwartz. As you may know, his new children's book, Adam's Animals, was published this past summer, and his newest book, Paths of the Prophets: The Ethics-Driven Life, is due out this March.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Have you published a book or article, essay, story, or poem? Let us know, and let us celebrate together!

We express our love of books during services, Saturday morning Torah study, adult education programs, and especially through our religious school. We are the people of the book, and our houses of worship have always been houses of learning as well. The secret of our survival and our success is intimately linked to our religious tradition being wrapped around the Torah scroll, revolving around spirituality and schooling, and a love of books. On Rosh Hashanah we ask God to write our names into the Book of Life, and as readers and writers ourselves, we become authors of our own destiny. For this reason alone, we should never forget to write our shul into own book, the book that we all write, the book of our own lives, and those of our family, friends, and community. May it be so.

Relgious School Autumnal News

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

Things have been busy at Adas Emuno Religious School! We capped off the high holiday season with almost full student participation in the Simchat Torah service, as our youngest students led the Torah parade with singing and flags, and the other classes each chanted a Torah verse in both Hebrew and English–I felt so incredibly proud of them! That same night, the 7th grade class was responsible for leading us in Shabbat prayers and songs and they did a terrific job as well.

Last month we celebrated the bar mitzvah of Blake Klein as he read from the Torah and spoke to us about Noah–mazel tov to Blake and his entire family. Blake is an 8th grader and is one of our valued madrichim, along with the other teachers’ helpers Hannah Futeran, Lily Futeran, Emery Jacobowitz and Maddie Racciatti.

Looking ahead, our next Shabbat Family Service takes place on Friday, November 17th. At this special service, we will have a Consecration Ceremony for new students who joined our school last year and this year. Before services, the Membership Committee is hosting a Pizza Dinner at 6:30 in honor of this year's new member families. All school families are invited to attend the pizza dinner, but we ask that you RSVP by Wednesday, November 15th. Please email (indicating how many people in your family will be attending the dinner) to Virginia at vegitter at aol.com or text to 551-404-7486.

Please make sure to check out these other dates and special events coming up in November and December:

Sunday, November 5
11:00 AM⏤Confirmation Class

Friday, November 17
6:30 PM⏤Pizza Dinner welcoming new member families

7:30 PM⏤Shabbat Family Service and Consecration Ceremony. “Decorate your own cupcake” oneg!

Sunday, November 26
Thanksgiving Weekend⏤No Religious School

Sunday, December 3
11:30 AM⏤Social Action Mitzvah Mall for students and their parents

Thursday, December 7
7:30 PM B’nei Mitzvah Parent Meeting

Sunday, December 10
11:00 AM⏤Confirmation Class

Friday, December 15
7:30 PM⏤Grade 5-6 Shabbat Family Service

Saturday, December 16
7:00 PM Community Menorah Lighting/Chanukah Party

Sunday, December 17
Chanukah Party during Religious School

Sunday, December 24 & 31
No School

Social Action Activities

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:


 

A Report from Annette DeMarco
Social Action Committee Chairperson




 


Hi All!

There’s been a lot of activity surrounding Social Action and Adas Emuno!

On September 11th, Day of Service and Remembrance, a number of our congregants took part in the Center for Food Action's program of making up week-end snack bags for children in need.  Over 4,000 bags were made up.  Thank you to all who participated.

The food collection held during the High Holy Days yielded bags plus one case of groceries.  This year’s drive was in conjunction with Blake Klein's Bar Mitzvah project, in which he raised money, collected food (at the Leonia Rec Center) and also assisted in our collection… all for the CFA! Thank you to Blake and thank you to everyone who donated!

*****************************************

Social Action met a social evening out as over 20 of our members spent a fun evening at Ethical Brew, a musical venue sponsored by the Ethical Culture Center in Teaneck.  We listened to some great folk music, and half of all proceeds from ticket sales went to a social action program, chosen by the entertainers. It was a win-win evening!

*****************************************

Upcoming…

Sunday, November 5th—We will be cooking for and serving at the shelter in Hackensack. Please email acheryl21 at gmail.com if you can help and/or have not yet replied to the email sent to the congregation.  

Sunday, December 3—Mitzvah Mall. Please come and support some very special organizations, all while you work on your holiday “shopping” list with meaningful “gifts” to share with those whom you buy on behalf of. The presentation is from 11:30-12 noon.  "Shopping" continues through 1:00 although the “mall” will remain open longer if you let us know you will be a bit late. If you recall from last year, this event was a great success.

January—We will be starting a knitting/crocheting group! The first project will be to make caps for newborn babies at Holy Name Hospital. Interested?  Email me so we can work out a time for all to meet.

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Some volunteer opportunities to consider:

Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge, Inc.  Paws-in-Hand Program. This organization works to support schools for children with special needs through specially trained animals.  It provides the animals plus the education needed for the success of the program.  It is active in Bergen and Passaic County schools. Call 201-337- 5180 or email humaneed at rbari.org.

Aviation Hall of Fame of NJ—Its purpose is to educate about NJ's history in this field and to encourage young people to consider careers in the aerospace industry.  Various volunteer opportunities available, beginning at age 16.

Color A Smile—So easy even a child can do it... and many do! Consider for a community service/b’nei mitzvah project, rainy day project, getting together with friends for a special reason project, Youth Group project, etc. Go to colorasmile.org./volunteer, then click on Volunteer to Color, for further instructions.

Wishing everyone a fun-filled, stuffing-filled, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Annette—acheryl21 at gmail.com

Religious School New Year

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

Shalom and welcome to another year of Religious School at Adas Emuno!

A story: There was once a man who wanted to convert to Judaism. He confronted Rabbi Hillel, a wise sage, and said to him, "Teach me everything about Judaism while I’m standing one foot!" To which Hillel replied, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Now, go and study!"

“Now, go and study!” It’s not always easy to know how to treat others the way we ourselves wish to be treated; it’s a learning process. At Adas Emuno Religious School, learning is interactive as we encourage students to articulate their own ideas and questions, as they learn also to listen to the thoughts and opinions of others. The curriculum varies somewhat from year to year, while the fundamental values of respect and kindness remain constant. And may I say that I feel the urgency of this mission more than ever this year, in the face of so much public turmoil.

It all begins on Sunday September 10! That morning we will also hold our annual Welcome Back Meeting for all parents. At that meeting you will receive the Religious School Calendar, hear about plans for the upcoming year, and sign up for the many volunteer opportunities.



 

May this be a year of good learning for everyone!

Please note these important events for September and October:

Sunday, September 10
9:00 AM⏤First Day of School

Friday, September 15
7:30 PM⏤Back to School Shabbat Family Service honoring teachers and madrachim

Sunday, September 17
11:00 AM⏤First Confirmation Class session

Thursday, September 21
2:00 PM⏤Rosh Hashanah Children’s Service followed by Tashlich at Overpeck Park in Leonia

Saturday, September 30
2:00 PM⏤Yom Kippur Children’s Service

Friday, October 13
7:30 PM⏤Shabbat Family Service with Grade 7 participation and Simchat Torah celebration

Saturday, October 21
10:00 AM⏤Bar Mitzvah of Blake Klein

Cantor Horowitz's Report at Our Annual Congregational Meeting

Delivered at our annual congregational meeting on June 22nd:

Cantor's Report for the Year 5777

“Music for a while shall all your cares beguile”, is a well-known song written by the Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Contemporary Rabbi Jonathan Sacks puts a Jewish spin on this thought, when he writes, “Words are the language of the mind. Music is the language of the soul.” Adas Emuno is fortunate to have a strong tradition of musical participation. You are so willing to try new melodies and new music. When I sometimes say, “please feel free to sing along, even if you don’t know the music”–I truly mean it. Song is a form of prayer. It is the expression of our own, unique soul.

And so this past year during Friday night Shabbat services, we have introduced more new music than before. While remaining anchored by familiar music, each week I have endeavored to vary melodies of familiar prayers, while also adding musical settings to text that are less familiar. I introduced music from various contemporary Jewish composers, along with settings of music from other parts of our tradition such as the psalms. I played with something called “contrafaction”–imposing a tune from one tradition onto the text from another tradition, or from another part of our own tradition. We sang our Shabbat liturgy using familiar Chanukah and Passover tunes at the time of those holidays; on Memorial Day weekend we sang Lecha Dodi to the tune of America the Beautiful. And in memory of Martin Luther King on the weekend of his birthday I chanted excerpts of some of his famous speeches using Haftarah trope–the trope we use traditionally to chant the words of our own prophets, in honor of this modern prophet.

Looking back at some highlights of the year:

Our high holiday services were once again graced with the presence of our keyboard accompanist Beth Robin. We concluded Rosh Hashanah with celebrating Tashlich down at Overpeck Park by the water with plenty of music and the traditional apples and honey. Delightfully, once again this year congregational members of all ages were in attendance. Again this year we had our “indoor” Music in the Sukkah featuring our own Peter Hays and Michael Scowden on guitar, along with the voices of our teens Stella Borelli and Ula Goldstein. This past year has brought another five b'nei mitzvah students to the bimah. In my role as Cantor I met weekly with each of them, in order to prepare them to chant Torah and Haftarah and lead us in prayer. And those special days were once again graced with the musical accompaniment of Beth Robin.

We will have a report from our Religious School co-chairs but I would like to point out a couple of highlights from this past school year...

We continued the tradition of coming together as a school for special celebrations of the major holidays, as has been done in the past, thanks to help from our school committee and other parent volunteers. I also added a new dimension to our holiday programming this past year, as each individual class was given the responsibility to present a skit, poster or presentation relating to one holiday during the year. Teachers and students alike were enthusiastic about the opportunity and creativity flourished!

Attendance at Family Services continued to be high, thanks to the ongoing success of our policy implemented last year which requires students in the older grades to attend a certain number of Shabbat services each year. Thank you again to Bnei Mitzvah/Family Policy coordinator Marilyn Katz for her efforts on behalf of this program.

Confirmation Class was ably led by Rabbi Schwartz again this past year, who also led the effort to resurrect our Youth Group program. This spring saw several Youth Group events, and we look forward to watching this program continue to grow.

While I believe that the quality of our religious school education overall remains high and continues to expand, unfortunately, we can’t say the same about quantity. Enrollment in grades K-7 was down this past year. I believe that this is a trend that could be reversed, and hope that outreach efforts over the summer will yield some result.

In closing I wish to express my gratitude to the leadership of Adas Emuno, Rabbi Barry Schwartz, President Lance Strate, Ritual Chair Virginia Gitter, Buildings supervisor Michael Fishbein and the other officers and members of the board, for their ongoing support of my efforts. Most of all, I am grateful for the Religious School Parents Committee–ably led by Michael Raskin and Jody Pugach along with Susan Grey and Sandy Zornek. It takes a tremendous amount of work to run a school, and their efforts are tireless. The school after all belongs to the parents, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with them.

Respectfully submitted,
Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Kurt Roberg's 80th Bar Mitzvah Anniversary

On Friday evening, May 12th, Kurt Roberg, our eldest member, celebrated the 80th anniversary of his bar mitzvah, which took place in Nazi Germany. Kurt was called up for the aliyah, there was a Torah readying from Kurt's portion, and Kurt delivered a special bar mitzvah speech to mark the occasion.

Kurt has been kind enough to share his address with us, for publication in our newsletter, Kadima, and here on our congregational blog. And we are pleased now to share his address with you:

80th Bar Mitzvah Anniversary Address

Kurt Roberg

I am so happy to welcome you all this evening, this certainly is a much bigger turnout than at my original Bar Mitzvah 80 years ago, when in our small congregation in Germany we struggled to assemble 10 men for a minyan.

It is funny how some events in our lives are permanently etched into our memory, and for me that Shabbat in May 1937 certainly is one of them.

I had prepared for my Torah portion for a year under the weekly tutoring of our Hebrew teacher and cantor, and as a result my Torah reading did turn out very well. Then our cantor addressed me, reminding me of my obligations as a Jewish adult; and there were cautions about the difficult times that could lie ahead for German Jews. As a token of my coming of age, I was presented with the traditional Bar Mitzvah gift: a copy of the Holy Scriptures.

After the service had concluded, our family went back to our apartment for a dinner celebration that my mother and Aunt Babette had prepared in advance. My aunt had come from Mother’s birth village near Heidelberg, and my god-parents, Aunt Hedwig and Uncle Robert, had arrived the day before from Paderborn. During those couple of days, we all lived at improvised close quarters in our apartment, because during those Nazi times Jews were no longer allowed in hotels. My brother Harry could not be at my Bar Mitzvah; he had already emigrated a year earlier to my mother’s brother in Holland, and my Uncle Wilhelm refused to travel to Nazi Germany.

Before dinner, everybody gathered in the living room, where another important part of the day's events took place: the presentation of my Bar Mitzvah gifts. Mother had carefully arranged every gift on a table⏤in those days gifts were not wrapped⏤everything was displayed in one overwhelming vision of bliss. There was a fountain pen with a fourteen carat gold tip from Aunt Babette, a Sterling silver pencil from Aunt Hedwig, and a pocketknife from the Salomon family. Uncle Wilhelm had sent twenty Dutch Guilders from Holland and Cousin Helma five Pounds from Palestine. There were some books and sweets and "practical" things like shirts and socks. I was overwhelmed with all those wonderful gifts, but especially the secretly hoped for fountain pen.

As some of you may know, Congregation Adas Emuno was founded in the year 1871 in Hoboken by German/Jewish immigrants. We still have some of the old congregational records, all hand-written in a German script, discontinued long ago. All congregational meetings were held in German and the religious services were performed in German and Hebrew, as were their weekly Religious School classes.

A custom we did not have in Germany, or in Hoboken in those days, but that has become a very laudable tradition in America, is a Bar Mitzvah project. So as my belated Bar Mitzvah project now, I have recently started to study some of those old congregational records. I have deciphered, translated and transcribed the first annual report of its president to the Board of directors, dated October 20, 1872, and an 1873 Report of the School Committee.

Since Tradition and Remembrance are an integral part of Jewish custom and survival, I think it may be of interest to some members of our congregation, as well as our next generation of Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s, to know something about the origin and background of our German/Jewish ancestor congregation. To celebrate my 80th Bar Mitzvah anniversary, in a reversal of procedures, I want to present to you a wonderfully informative book for our library, an illustrated History of the Jews in Germany since Roman times, including the origins of the Reform movement in early 19th century Germany.

In closing, let me thank our Congregation and the Ritual Committee for sponsoring the Oneg Shabbat, Rabbi Schwartz for his caring support and Cantor Horowitz for reading my Parshe today; hopefully I can do that on my 90th anniversary.

Thank you all for sharing this day with me,

Shabbat shalom!

Leonia, May 12, 2017 16 Iyar, 5577

To which we can only add, thank you Kurt, and mazel tov!

 From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

Buildings and Grounds

As a religious tradition, Judaism emphasizes the importance of spiritual communion and transcendence. Unlike many other religions, however, for the most part we do not advocate complete separation from the material world. Jewish teachings generally do not focus on the nature of the divine or the hereafter, or on trying to know the unknowable, but rather ask us to direct our attention to the world we inhabit and the question of how we should live in our lives, on the practical concerns of education, ethics and social justice.

In other words, we are asked and tasked to remain well grounded, even as we acknowledge the presence of something greater than ourselves, and aspire to the heights of religious experience. We enter the sacred space of our sanctuary, and observe the sacred time of the high holy days, festivals, holidays, and Shabbat, only to return to the profane space and time of our everyday lives. As others have pointed out, the Fourth Commandment not only directs us to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," but goes on to instruct us that "six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Adonai your God." We are commanded both to observe the Sabbath and also to fulfill our earthly responsibilities and get our work done.

With this in mind, I would like to point out that our labor, as a congregation, includes the maintenance and repair of our buildings and grounds. This includes our sanctuary and social hall, our religious school building, the rabbi's residence next to our religious school, the garden area alongside and behind the religious school, and our front lawn, driveways, and sidewalks. We are fortunate indeed that our congregation owns these properties outright, with no mortgage or liens against them, and to have our Buildings and Grounds Committee ably chaired by Michael Fishbein for many years.

The tasks that fall under the heading of buildings and grounds are familiar and numerous, and as profane as they come, whether it's taking out the garbage, cleaning bathrooms, changing light bulbs, shoveling snow, mowing the grass, fixing and maintaining heating and air conditioning, painting, replacing worn carpeting, fixing and replacing school equipment, and so on, and so on, and so on. I think we all pretty much know what it's like, after all.

It's not the sort of stuff we associate with a house of worship, and it's not the sort of stuff we like to think about anyway, but it's an important part of our earthly responsibilities, it's work that has to get done if we want to have a sanctuary, social hall, and school. And I think we all know that the costs associated with this sort of maintenance have only gone up over the years.

At our April Board of Trustees meeting, we took a long hard look at our revenues and expenses, and our membership dues, religious school tuition, and b'nai mitzvah fees. And we also looked at the building maintenance fee we ask all of our members to contribute to. And the funny thing is, no one could remember when it was last adjusted. Was it a decade ago? More? No one knew, but in the end, it didn't really matter. A long time ago the fee was set at $200, and it might as well have been a galaxy far, far away, given how much has changed since then.

I want to be honest with you. No one on the board wants to raise any of our dues or fees, we agonize over the issue, and over our fiduciary responsibility to our temple. The truth is that we are running at a deficit, and we need to increase our revenue to reduce the degree to which we are in the red. For this reason, the board voted to raise the building maintenance fee to $350, while agreeing not to raise membership dues, religious school tuition, and b'nai mitzvah fees. As this is the first time this fee has been raised in many, many years, we hope that you will understand and support this decision.

Our buildings and grounds are not our congregation. Our congregation consists of you and me, of us, together. But our buildings and grounds make most of what we do as a congregation possible. They are our common inheritance as a congregation, and our common responsibility, and it is incumbent on us to take proper care of our properties, so that we can pass them on to future generations.

I end this message with a further plea for donations above and beyond our dues and fees, because membership, tuition, and the like do not cover all our expenses. If you can afford to give something extra, please consider supporting our little shul on the hill, so that we can continue to be the little shul that could.

Religious School News: Purim & Passover

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

There is a fun song we teach at this time of year, called “Mishenichnas Adar”⏤it celebrates the Hebrew month of Adar, the month of Purim. The words of the song mean, “When Adar arrives, our joy increases!”

To quote another song, “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles: “Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter.” Indeed, it has. So Purim comes just in time to lift our spirits, as the Religious School gets ready to celebrate this holiday in style on March 12th. There wll be costumes and songs, a skit and⏤thanks to the efforts of some of our parents⏤the Purim Carnival is back! We hope to see you as well on Saturday evening, March 11th, to watch adults acting silly in this year’s Purim shpiel, “The Festival of Lots”! We look forward to having some of your children take part that evening, by lending their singing voices.

Next month our joy increases further with the celebration of Passover. For our annual school Passover program, each grade contributes a song or presentation regarding one aspect of the Passover holiday. We could use more help providing food and setting up, so if you are available please sign up!

In other news, our monthly Youth Group program for post b’nei-mitzvah students is off to a great start. Thank you to Rabbi Schwartz, Jody Priblo, Sabina Albirt and Samantha Rosenbloom for their capable leadership! It’s never too late to join the fun, teens can sign up anytime.

Family Services featuring Grades 2-3 and K-1 are coming up this month and next. Check out the dates below, and mark your calendars⏤it means so much to have students supporting each other at these services. Let’s share the joy!



DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday, January 12
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Friday, January 20
7:30 PM Shabbat Family Service led by the Fourth Grade

Saturday March 11
10:00 AM Bar Mitzvah of Joshua Gereb

Saturday March 11
5:30 PM Pizza + 6:30 PM Purim Service & Shpiel

Sunday March 12
School Purim Celebration; Carnival begins 11:30

Friday March 24
7:30 PM Shabbat Family Service⏤Grade 2-3 students

Saturday March 25
10:00 AM Bat Mitzvah of Haley Aleksic

Sunday April 9
School Passover Program

Tuesday April 11
Adas Emuno Community Passover Seder

Sunday April 15
No Religious School⏤Spring Break

Friday April 28
7:30 PM Shabbat Family Service⏤Grade K-1 students

Confirmation Class and Youth Group meetings: March 26 & April 23

Religious School 2017

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

January is the month when we transition in our Torah readings from the stories of Genesis to the epic journey recounted in the book of Exodus. In Genesis we read about our ancestors Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah and their children. Each individual has his or her own story–many of these were recounted, in lovely dramatic form, by our 5th, 6th and 7th graders at their family services! As we now progress into Exodus we will begin reading about the transition of individuals, former slaves in Egypt, into a single community, the Israelite people. Both matter–who we are as individuals, and who we are as a community.

A similar transition takes place each year, though fortunately in a far less dramatic way, at our religious school. Students arrive in September and it is our job as teachers and educators to get to know each individual child; even if they have been coming for several years, we watch how they are continually growing and changing. By the time they return from vacation in January and we begin the second half of the year, the pattern of Sunday mornings at religious school has been established, and by now hopefully they each feel themselves to be an important part of the larger ensemble, the community of Adas Emuno Religious School. It is my hope that we are not only imparting Jewish knowledge to them, but that we are also creating positive Jewish memories which will remain with them long after they become bar and bat mitzvah.

For our post b’nei mitzvah and high school students, a new Youth Group is being launched this month, as we expand the options for our teenagers to participate in the life of the Adas Emuno community. We are excited to welcome this venture in providing new opportunities for this age group.



DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday, January 12
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Friday, January 20
7:30 PM Shabbat Family Service led by the Fourth Grade

Thursday, February 9
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Friday, February 10
7:30 PM Shabbat Service/TuB’Shevat Dessert Seder

Sunday, February 19
No School–Winter Recess

Confirmation Class and Youth Group meetings: Sunday, January 22 and February 12

What’s New at Adas Emuno Religious School?

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

So what’s new at Adas Emuno Religious School?

First and foremost, this fall we welcome three new students to the Adas Emuno Religious School family: Naomi Slater is our newest Kindergarten student; Vera Lin-Alter is in first grade, and Shane Feinstein has joined the second grade. We’re so happy to have you with us!

This year I began implementing a series of regular emails to the school families, so that almost every week you can learn something about what is going on at the school—whether it relates to school activities, to our various social action efforts, or as a way of asking for your help with a particular effort or project.

Another new effort is taking place in the classrooms. This year, each grade will be helping to lead a special holiday program. For Sukkot, our fifth graders worked with both their Hebrew and Judaics teachers as they prepared a presentation for the other grades: they built model sukkahs, learned the special Sukkot blessings as well as how to shake the lulav, and prepared trivia questions relating to the holiday. Then on the Sunday of Sukkot they visited each of the other classrooms and shared what they had learned. A good time was had by all! Next up: the seventh grade will be learning and then teaching about Thanksgiving as it relates to the Jewish concept of gratitude, and our K-1 class will help lead the upcoming school Chanukah program.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday, November 10
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Friday, November 18
7:30PM Shabbat Family Service led by Sixth Grade

Sunday, November 27
No School–Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, December 1
7:30 PM B’nai Mitzvah Parent Meeting

Saturday, December 3
7:00 PM Talent Show!

Thursday, December 8
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Sunday, December 11
“Mitzvah Mall”

Friday, December 16
Shabbat Family Service led by the Fifth Grade

Saturday, December 24
7:00 PM Community Menorah Lighting and Chanukah Party at Adas Emuno

Sunday, December 25
No School–Winter Recess

Confirmation Class meetings: November 13, 20, December 4, 11

Beginning of School Year Notes

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

At family services and bnei mitzvah ceremonies we sing, “Al shlosha devarim ha’olam omed: al haTorah, v’al ha’Avodah, v’al Gemilut Hasadim”–“The world stands on three things: Torah (learning), service (prayer), and acts of kindness.”

These three pillars of Jewish tradition represent our themes for the school year.

Learning: We strive to cultivate the mind through interactive learning, artistic expression, questioning, and discussion as students engage with learning about bible, history, holidays, traditions and more.

Prayer: Students learn to read, recite, chant and sing prayers in English and Hebrew, as they explore the ways in which prayer expresses our ancestors’ and our own deepest feelings and heartfelt gratitude.

Acts of Kindness: Along with learning to think and feel Jewishly, we also strive to “do Jewish” by cultivating a commitment to tikun olam–repairing the world–as students are encouraged to become more aware of how they can incorporate the values of kindness, fairness and compassion into their daily lives.

As we begin a new religious school year, I hope that we can inspire in our students an ever-growing spark of connection with Jewish tradition, which can continue throughout their lives.

Shana Tova! May we be blessed for a sweet new school year!

 
DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday, September 8
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Sunday, September 11
9:00 AM First Day for Kindergarten through Grade 7
Parent program from 9-10:30

Sunday, September 18
First day of Confirmation Class
 
Friday, September 23
7:30PM Shabbat Family “Back-to- School” Service with make-your-own ice cream sundae oneg!

Sunday, October 2
No School in Session

Monday, October 3
2:00 PM Family/Children’s Service for Rosh Hashanah

Wednesday, October 12
2:00 PM Family/Children’s Service for Yom Kippur

Thursday, October 13 
7:30 PM School Committee Meeting

Friday, October 14
7:30 PM Shabbat Family service with 7th Grade Class participation–all school students & families welcome!

Saturday, October 15
10:00 AM Bar Mitzvah of Hudson Borelli

Celebrate Sukkot & Simchat Torah!

Friday, October 21
7:30 PM Shabbat Service & Sing-Along in the Sukkah

Sunday, October 23
*Pre-K Sukkot program with the “big kids” (K-1)!
*School wide Sukkot program
*6:00 PM “Subs in the Sukkah”
*7:00 PM Erev Simchat Torah Service & Consecration of new Religious School students