To view this
blog in its entirety, go to our website.
For daily
event updates, visit our calendar.
What’s Happening at a Glance
Creative Worship & Ritual
- Shemini Atzeret, Thursday, September 26 (Today!)
- Simchat Torah, Sunday, September 29
- Sukkot Recap
Membership News and Upcoming Events
- Welcome Our New Music Director
- Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers: The Continental and Butterfield’s
Volunteer Opportunities
- UGive: Teen Service Hours Credit
- Simchat Torah Pizza Party Prep
- Office Help Needed
- Phone Outreach to Prospective Members
- Landscape Fall Clean Up
The Rabbi’s Corner
- "Valuing Creation”
- Response: Parent and Family Connection
- American Diabetes Association “Step Out” Walk
Jewish Cultural Events in Chicagoland
- Festival of Israeli Film
- “Old Jews Telling Jokes”
SHOP Shir Hadash
Creative Worship and Ritual
Thursday, September 26: Special Festival
Service
There are a
lot of things that congregations with their own buildings do, that we can do
now at Shir Hadash. One of them is - to hold a morning service on a festival! TODAY,
September 26th, from 10:00 am to noon, we'll do just that, to mark Shemini
Atzeret - the end of Sukkot. We will parade with the Torah scrolls. And we'll
read from the end of the Torah - the last verses of Deuteronomy - and then
start back at the beginning, with the opening lines of Genesis, “In the
Beginning…” Our morning worship will include a Yizkor memorial service as well.
Everyone is welcome to attend. See you then!
Sunday, September 29: Simchat Torah Service
and Pizza Dinner
Celebrate
Simchat Torah on Sunday, September 29, with a pizza dinner followed by a
wonderful service! Dinner starts at
5:00pm with the service following at 6:00. We welcome everyone, younger and
older, to dance numerous circle dances with our Torah scrolls led by Rabbi
Eitan Weiner-Kaplow and members of the Mighty Shir Hadash Klezmorim band. Our
newest religious school students will be honored through a “Consecration”
ceremony. Following the dancing, we will unroll a Torah scroll from end to end
for all to see. We will read the last few lines of the Torah and then the first
few lines, thus finishing and beginning our study anew. Finally, taffy apples
will be served outside in our Sukkah harvest booth.
Dinner RSVPs
must be received by this Friday, September 27. Click here for menu details and RSVP form. Looking forward to seeing everyone for
this great Shir Hadash evening.
Sukkot Recap
We had a
wonderful time celebrating the start of Sukkot in the first sukkah at our
synagogue. Many thanks to the volunteers who put in the hard work to set up the
sukkah, and to the kids who created decorations for it. Our Sunday School
students also enjoyed spending time in the sukkah during the first day of
Sunday School. This is yet another example of how wonderful it is to have a
permanent home!
Membership and Upcoming Events
Welcome Our New Music Director!
 |
| Adrian and Rabbi Eitan during Sukkot Service |
Shir Hadash
is thrilled to welcome Adrian A. Durlester as our new Music Director. Adrian
brings to Shir Hadash over four decades of experience as a pianist, musician,
musical director, choral director, songleader, and music educator with
expertise in Jewish and secular music, opera, and musical theatre. Added to
that are more than 18 years of experience in Jewish education as administrator,
teacher, tutor, and technology guru for synagogues, day schools, camps, and
JCCs. Adrian will build upon and expand
the Shir Hadash musical experience, working with our Lahaka and other
performing arts groups. Our children's
choir, the Kolit, will be forming soon.
Details to come in the near future!
Visit The
Continental Restaurant or Butterfield’s anytime, and they will donate 5% of
your total bill to Shir Hadash! No flyer needed – just mention Shir Hadash when
you are paying. Stop by for a great meal
and thank them for supporting our community!
- The Continental Restaurant, 788 S. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove – 847 459 4095
- Butterfield’s, 4195 Dundee, Northbrook – 847 205 2588
Volunteer Opportunities
UGive
Teens can
now get service hours credit when they volunteer for Shir Hadash through
ugive.org. Many schools use UGive to track volunteer hours. Check with your
school’s counselor to sign up and get credit while you help our community!
Simchat Torah: Pizza Party Prep
As you read
above, we’ll start our Simchat Torah celebration on Sunday, September 29 with a
pizza dinner. To set up, we need help putting out the dining tables,
chairs, and buffet tables. Set up will begin about 12:15, just before Sunday
School finishes. Come on in and join
the fun! The more people who help - kids
are welcome! - the faster the job will get done. If you have any questions call the office at 847 498 8218.
Office Help Needed
We still need extra help in the Shir Hadash office on
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for the next few weeks. If you have time to
answer the phones and pitch in on administrative tasks, please contact
volunteer@shir-hadash.org to fill some time slots.
Help Build Our Outreach to Prospective
Members
We’ve had a
surge in interest in Shir Hadash in recent months – now we want to make
personal contact with people who’ve shown interest! We need about seven more volunteers
to commit to calling 15 prospects each, to invite them to our upcoming events
and answer any questions they may have about our community. A script will be
provided to get the conversation started. Each caller will keep track of who
they call, what response they received, and whether or not the individual would
like further information. Assuming each call takes about 10 minutes, this is roughly
a three-hour time commitment per volunteer. If you’re interested in
participating, please contact volunteer@shir-hadash.org.
Landscape Fall Clean-Up
Our first landscape clean-up day is this weekend! Before April
showers and May flowers, and spring planting, comes the less glamorous chore of
clearing out the old stuff so we are ready to hit the ground running in the
spring on our long term beautification plan for the new building. Please join
the Landscaping Committee at one (or more!) of our upcoming Fall Clean-ups:
- Sunday, September 29
- Sunday, October 6
- Sunday, October 20
All clean-up sessions will run from 10am-12noon. We will meet
in the Shir Hadash parking lot. Please bring any gardening equipment you may
have such as shovels, spades, clippers, etc. Dress to get dirty! We encourage teens in need of school service hours to
attend. Unfortunately, young children may not attend for safety reasons. For more information,
please contact Jodi Marvet at jlmarvet@comcast.net.
The Rabbi’s Corner
September 27-28, 2013 / 24 Tishrei 5774
Shabbat Bereisheet
Torah Portion: Genesis 1:1-6:8 / Haftarah Portion: Isaiah
42:5-43:10
“Valuing Creation”
Dear Friends,
Did the creation of the world really happen in seven
days? Were the heavens, the stars, sun
and moon, sea and sky, grasses and trees all created on different days? Were fishes, bugs, birds, beasts, and
humanity created on others? Did it
happen just as the Bible says it does?
For fundamentalists and ‘Creationists,’ it did. Creation rolled out exactly as the Bible
says. For them, the Bible should be read
literally, as a newspaper, listing all the facts just as they happened.
Yet, many Jewish sages and scholars teach that the Torah has
to be read between the lines. The
meaning runs deeper. For, the Torah was
not written to give a factual account as we expect history to be written,
compiled, and redacted today. Rather,
its account was written to tell us more about the meaning of life itself….
To read the rest of the Rabbi’s Corner, click here to visit our website.
Community News
Response’s Parent and
Family Connection Series
Parent and Family Connection is back! This JCFS-sponsored
group offers friendship and support to LGBTQ
teens and their families. New members and guests are always welcome.
Upcoming events include:
Sunday, October 6: Film screening of “Melting Away”, the first Israeli
film to portray a family coming to terms with their transgender teen. This
event is free, and will be followed by refreshments and a panel discussion. The
screening will be held at Emanuel Congregation, 5959 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago,
from 1:00 to 3:00pm. For more
information, contact Rachel Marro at RachelMarro@jcfs.org, 224-625-2946.
American Diabetes Association “Step Out”
Fundraiser
The ADA’s
annual Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes will be held this Saturday, September 28 at Didier Farms. Shir Hadash’s Dumrauf
family has a team walking in honor of their son. In addition to a four-mile
fundraising walk, this event features a fun, family-friendly festival where you
can learn about healthy eating, physical activity and diabetes before and after
the walk. Didier Farms is a pumpkin patch full of rides and games for children
and a corn maze and hayrack rides is fun for the entire family! Visit the event website for details on how to participate or donate
in support of Team Tyler Dumrauf.
Jewish Cultural Events in Chicagoland
Festival for
Israeli Cinema
The Chicago
Festival for Israeli Cinema will be held October 3 – 13. Fifteen films in a
wide variety of genres will be shown at Northbrook Court and at venues in
downtown Chicago. Visit the Festival’s website for more information or call 847-687-2126.
"Old
Jews Telling Jokes" at the Royal George Theatre
This
long-running Off-Broadway show will be playing at the Royal George Theatre from
September 24 through January 26. Click here to visit the theatre’s website. If you are interested in seeing this play in
late October or November, please contact Meryl Abensohn at abenkras@aol.com.
SHOP Shir Hadash
SHOP is our
congregation’s ongoing fundraiser – and the easiest way to support the shul
without spending a dime more than you otherwise would! Purchase giftcards
through SHOP and the vendors pay a percentage back to Shir Hadash. SHOP orders of at
least $400 are now payable by credit card, as well as annual SHOP orders.
Orders can be picked up at the synagogue office or at Sunday School. For more
information, visit our SHOP page on the website.
While supplies
last, a limited run of the following plastic gift cards will be available:
- Barnes & Noble $5 Gift Card
- Panera Bread $5 Gift Card
Bonus
Contributions:
- Gap Inc. -- 2% 9/28 to 10/11
- Logan’s Roadhouse – 2% through 10/4
- Hallmark – 1% through 9/27
- Home Depot – 1% through 9/27
- Bed Bath & Beyond – 1% through 9/27
- Coldwater Creek – 2% through 9/27
- California Pizza Kitchen – 2% through September 27
- Gordman’s – 2% though 9/27
- J. Jill – 3% through 9/27
- Journeys – 3% through 9/27
- Landry’s – 2% through 9/27
- Petsmart – 2% through 9/27
- Restaurant.com – 10% through 10/11
- Shutterfly – 2% through 9/27
- Albertsons – 1% 9/21 through 10/4
- Caribou Coffee – 1% 9/21 through 10/4
- iTunes – 5% 9/21 through 9/27
- Jo-Ann – 2% 9/21 through 10/4
- Order $25 or more of Dave & Buster’s script by October 4 and receive a bonus $20 Dave & Buster’s Gameplay Coupon. Offer valid on plaster or ScriptNow eCards on ShopWithScrip.com.
Between now and
October 31, 2013, you could earn $100 in your choice of ShopWithScrip.com gift
cards for every new organization that enrolls and places an order. When you
refer a new organization, they will receive free shipping on their first order!
Thank-Scrip-ing
Day will be back for Thanksgiving, November 28, with a whole new set of
retailers and ScripNow bonuses! Plus, we still have a lot of different bonuses
you can see on our Special Offers page, and we'll have more exciting news about
upcoming events like free shipping, special coupons, and more. Contact Gina
Zinbarg, gzinbarg@sbcglobal.net, for more information.
Thanks to the
following families for participating in SHOP this week:
- Zinbarg
- Schleicher
- Fern
- Callistein
- Andes
- G. Graff
- Soglin
- Rice
- Friedman
- Litman
- Kharasch
- Matt
- Weiss
