To view this blog in its entirety, go to our website.
For daily event updates, visit our calendar.
What’s Happening at a Glance
Membership News and Upcoming Events
- Annual Meeting, May 17
- New! Board Candidate Forum, May 3
- Yoga, April 29
- Save the Date! Baseball Outing to Shaumburg Boomers Game, June 7
- Sitter Directory on Shul Cloud
- Book Club
Creative Worship and Ritual
- No Shabbat Services April 24-25
- Next Week’s Services: Tot Shabbat, Friday Evening, and Saturday Morning
Volunteer Opportunities
- LifeSource Blood Drive at Shir Hadash, May 3
- Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
- SHOP Needs You
The Rabbi’s Corner
- "Compassion First"
Education
- Religious School, April 26
- End of School Pancake Breakfast and Sports Event, May 31
- Tefillin Needed
Teen News
- Upcoming Teen Events
Adult Education
- Adult Ed Class on American Jewish History, May 3
- Lunch and Learn with the Rabbi, Tuesdays
- Sunday Morning Adult Ed Class
Community Events
- Response Parent & Family Connection Event, April 26
Donations
Ongoing Fundraisers
- Help Shir Hadash Earn Free Donations with iGive
- Samuel I. Andes Scholarship Fund
- Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers: The Continental and Butterfield’s
SHOP Shir Hadash
Membership and Upcoming
Events
Annual Meeting, May 17
On Sunday, May 17 at 9:30am, we will have our Shir Hadash
Annual Meeting. At the meeting, you can vote on the election of new Board
members and the approval of the annual budget. You will hear reports on
synagogue activities and plans, and you can ask questions and participate in
the discussion. Please come – we need a quorum!
New! Board Candidate Forum, May 3
Since we have multiple candidates this year for open
positions, we will also have a Candidate Forum, on Sunday, May 3 at 9:30 a.m.,
at which you will be able to listen to the candidates and ask questions. The open positions and candidates are:
- President: Glenn Graff, Deborah Newberger/Cindy Salomon (co-Presidents)
- Executive VP: Fred Andes
- Secretary: Dawn Allen, Sandi Schleicher
- Treasurer: Mehran Farahmandpour
- VP Programming: Joanne Litman, Carrie Matt
- At Large Member (four positions) - Melanie Andes, Nat Arons, Alan Bernover, Rhonda Carpenter, Arthur German, Lisa Settler
Yoga, April 29
Yoga at Shir Hadash has moved to Wednesdays! We have a fabulous
certified yoga instructor who modifies the class for all levels, from yoga
first-timers to advanced. Everyone over 12 years of age is welcome: men and
women, members and non-members. Please bring a yoga mat. Weekly classes will
continue on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00pm. For more information, contact
Joanne Litman at jolitman@gmail.com
Save the Date! SH
Baseball Outing to Schaumburg Boomers, June 7
June 7 will be Shir Hadash Day at the Schaumburg Boomers! Beginning at
1:00pm, friends and family of all ages are welcome for a day of fun at the
Schaumburg Boomers minor league baseball stadium. Registration and direct payment on Shul Cloud
will be available soon. A group discount will be available if we get 20
registrants by May 7.
Sitter Directory on Shul Cloud
We are creating a new member-to-member directory for baby sitters, pet
sitters, and house sitters. This list will only be available to logged-in
members, so your information will be secure. To be part of the listings, click
here to visit the Shir
Hadash Shul Cloud page, log in, and enter your information.
Book Club
Our next book club selection will be What
We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander. Our
meeting date and location will be announced soon. For more information, contact
Meryl Abensohn, abenkras@aol.com.
Creative Worship and Ritual
This Week’s Services
No Shabbat Services April 24-25
Enjoy Shabbat with your family, and plan to join us for next week’s
services.
Next Week’s Services
Tot Shabbat, May 1 at 6:15pm
- Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow and Lauren Shook will lead a special family program geared to youngsters up to third grade. Join us for a pizza dinner at 5:30pm followed by a special service at 6:00pm.
Shabbat Evening Service, May 1 at
7:30pm
Shabbat Morning Service and Bar Mitzvah, May 2 at
9:30am
Volunteer Opportunities
LifeSource Blood Drive at Shir Hadash, May 3
Shir Hadash will be hosting a
blood drive with LifeSource on Sunday, May 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at our building located at
200 W. Dundee Rd, Wheeling. This drive
is very important because the recent weather conditions have prompted a
significant drop in donations at all of LifeSource’s 18 donor centers. Remember
that each pint of blood donated helps save three lives!
To schedule your appointment with
LifeSource, go to www.lifesource.org; Donate Blood; Make an Appointment (Scroll
down) and Search by group code 528B. If you need assistance, you can email Mark
Lenhart at mjlenhart@comcast.net. There will also be a sign up sheet in the
lobby of the building during Sunday School hours the morning of the drive.
Appointments are every 15 minutes starting at 8:30 a.m. until 1:00, and we can
accommodate up to three people per 15 minute slot.
Donors need to be 16 or older to
donate. 16 year olds will need a signed
parent consent form which will be available on site.
If you have any specific medical
questions, please call LifeSource at 877-543-3768 or 800-486-0680.
“Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive
Have you received a post card from
your letter carrier about the Postal Service’s “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive on
May 9? The Northwest Suburban Interfaith Council, which includes Shir Hadash,
will be distributing the food collected in Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Wheeling,
Lincolnshire, Northbrook, Highwood, and Skokie to local food pantries. Please
support this effort by leaving non-perishable food donations in your mailbox on
May 9 for your letter carrier to pick up. For more information about Interfaith
Council community programs, contact Marla Callistein at marlandan@yahoo.com.
SHOP Needs You!
Our ongoing, and vital, SHOP Shir Hadash fundraiser needs
volunteers to staff our table at Sunday School. It’s an easy job and a great
chance to schmooze with other Shir Hadashniks! Can you spare one Sunday morning
to help – just one – from 9:00 to 12:30? Click here to sign up for a day of your choice on Shul Cloud, or contact Gina
Zinbarg, gzinbarg@sbcglobal.net, for more info.
The Rabbi’s Corner
April 24-25, 2015 / 6 Iyar 5775
Shabbat Tazria-Metzorah
Torah: Leviticus 12:1 – 15:33 / Haftarah: II Kings 7:3 -
7:20
“Compassion First”
Dear Friends,
Like today, our ancestors suffered from a whole host of
illnesses. Yet, without modern science
and medicine, they had no way of understanding how someone became sick. The best explanation they had, and is shown
in this week’s Torah portion, was that God willed it so. And why would God bestow illness upon
someone? Because they had done something wrong that merited the punishment of
sickness. Likewise, good health was a
reward for acting well. This certainly
seemed logical enough. If you did bad,
you became sick. If you did well, you
were healed. And if things did not seem
to add up, then we invoke the notion that God works in mysterious ways.
Of course, this view of disease was tremendously
inconsiderate to the ill. Simply put,
the victims deserved it. They must have
done something bad and brought it upon themselves. Now, as logical as this might seem to the
ancient mind, in Judaism logic is not allowed to override compassion. We are not permitted to stand back when
someone is in distress.
Thus, regardless of why someone might be sick and in need,
we must heal; we must feed, we must alleviate suffering. This is the true meaning of the Biblical
verse, “You must love your neighbor as yourself,” a verse coming up in next
week’s Torah portion.
As Jews, we are commanded to serve as partners with God to
help perfect the world. This includes
reaching out to all in need and lifting them to renewed health of body, mind,
and spirit.
Zay a Mentsch – Be a good person. It’s the Jewish way.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
To view past
installments of the Rabbi’s blog, please visit our website.
Education
Religious School, April 26 -- Family Mitzvah Day!
This Sunday is our annual mitzvah day, and we invite everyone to participate! School families should have received an email detailing the many projects we have available at Shir Hadash and off-site. A suggested donation of $25 per family will help offset the costs of supplies and activities. Please use the links provided in the email to sign up, or contact Emily Ascher at eddirector@shir-hadash.org with any questions.
End of School
Parent-Child Pancake Sports Breakfast
Save the date for a special celebration to end the Shir
Hadash school year! We will come together for a delicious pancake breakfast,
followed by a presentation with former Illini basketball star and current UIC
Assistant Coach Deon Thomas. He will speak about his career as a professional
basketball player, including time in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and will
sign autographs and take photos with students. More details coming soon!
Tefillin Needed
Rabbi Eitan is collecting sets of tefillin for his teaching
of traditional Judaism to our students. If you have an unused and
unwanted set to donate, please contact him at rabbi@shir-hadash.org or call the
office.
Teen News
Upcoming Teen Events
May 4 –
Stress relief program at Shir Hadash. Learn some great relaxation techniques
and hang out with your friends.
May 18 –
Ra’am Board meeting.
June 4 –
Ra’am fall term elections.
Adult Education
Winter Adult Ed Class on American Jewish History – Final
Meeting May 3
The final session of our
survey course on the fascinating story of the Jewish community in America will
meet on Sunday, May 3 from 11:15am to 12:25pm. Our study is divided into eight
periods spanning colonial times to the present. Each class session will include
lecture, discussion, and reading through historical source documents and
artifacts. We will also touch on Jewish genealogy and tracing our families’
roots. Students are encouraged to bring online/web resources to class.
Instructor: Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow assisted by Shir Hadash members. Everyone
is welcome to participate.
Lunch & Learn with Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
All are invited to join Shir Hadash members and friends for
a refreshing and contemporary exploration of the weekly Torah portion. We
meet at noon on Tuesdays in the conference room.
Sunday Morning Adult Ed
Each Sunday when Religious School is in session, Fred Andes
leads a casual group as we meet at the synagogue from 9:45 to 10:45 for coffee
and engaging discussion topics. All are welcome.
Community Events
Response Parent &
Family Connection Events, April 26
Response, a service of JCFS, offers the Parent & Family Connection
group to support and educate families of LGBTQ youth. On Sunday, April 26,
Parent & Family Connection holds its monthly meeting from 1:00 to 2:30pm at
Beth Emet Congregation, 1224 Dempster in Evanston. New members are always
welcome. For more information, contact Rachel Marro, RachelMarro@jcfs.org or
224-625-2946.
Donations
To the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund
Beth Klauba,
in appreciation of Rabbi Eitan and Bob Roiter for personal and professional
advice.
Ongoing Fundraisers
Help Shir Hadash Earn Free Donations with iGive
You can help Shir Hadash every time you shop online – the
iGive Button makes it simple! iGive is a free and easy way to support the shul.
Average shoppers using iGive raise between $30 and $100 a year for their
causes. There are 1480 online retailers helping to make donations happen
through iGive.
Click here to learn more and join iGive. If you have
questions, contact Sandi Schleicher, finance@shir-hadash.org.
Scholarship Fund
To help families in financial need pay for their children’s
Jewish education at Shir Hadash, Melanie and Fred Andes created the Samuel I
Andes Scholarship Fund in memory of Fred’s great-uncle have graciously offered
to match all donations to the fund up to $11,000.00. Click
here to donate online or mail in your
check made out to Shir Hadash with “Scholarship” written in the memo line.
Don’t Forget Our Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers!
The Continental Restaurant in Buffalo Grove and
Butterfield’s Restaurant in Northbrook will donate 5% of your total bill to
Shir Hadash! No flyer needed – just mention Shir Hadash when you are paying or
fill out the Shir Hadash book behind the desk.
SHOP Shir Hadash
SHOP for Spring!
SHOP is our congregation’s ongoing fundraiser – and the
easiest way to support the shul without spending an extra dime! Purchase gift
cards 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.
SHOP Needs Your Help!
Please sign up to staff the SHOP table for a Sunday
morning. Full details in the “Volunteer Opportunities” section, above.
Low Denomination Gift Cards are Back!
We have a limited number of special small
denomination gift cards available, perfect for teacher gifts and graduation
parties! The following cards will be
available:
- Albertsons and Supervalu $10
- Amazon.com Gift Cards $10
- AMC Theatres® $10
- Applebee's $10
- CVS/pharmacy $10
- Groupon $10
- IHOP $10
- Meijer $10
- Outback $10
- Panera Bread® $5
- Pizza Hut $5
- Regal Entertainment Group $10
- Starbucks $5 Teacher Card
- Target $10
Bonus Offers Starting
April 18:
- Bath and Body Works – 5% until May 1
- Express – 2% until May 1
- BonTon – 2% until May 1
- Landry’s – 1% until May 1
- Lane Bryant – 1% until May 8
- Home Depot – 1% until May 1
- Restaurant.com – 5% until May 8
- TGI Friday’s – 3% until May 1
- LL Bean – 1% until May 1
Bonus Offers Starting April 25:
- Bed Bath & Beyond – 1% until May 8
- Buca di Beppo – 2% until May 8
- Regis Salons – 1% until May 1
- SpaFinder – 2% until May 8
- Spa & Wellness Giftcard by Spa Week – 4% until May 1
Thanks to the following families for participating in SHOP this
week:
Zinbarg
Schleicher
Estes-Goldman
Andes
Sulton
Idelman
G. Graff
Friedman
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