WHAT’S HAPPENING AT A GLANCE
Membership News and Upcoming Events
- New! Upcoming Meet-n-Greets with Rabbi Eitan,
- RSVP for Annual Potluck Picnic, August 23
- Shir Hadash Golf Outing, August 16
- Membership Renewal Forms Now Open
- Huge Rummage Sale Completed!
- Solar Capital Campaign
- Book Club, August 25
Creative Worship and Ritual
- This Week's Services
- Tot/Family Dinner and Shabbat, August 7, 5:30pm
- Shabbat Evening Service, August 7, 7:30pm
- New! High Holidays are Coming -- Register and Help!
Music
- Sing With Us for the High Holidays
- New! Join the Shul Cloud Support Team
- High Holiday Food Baskets
- Building Operations Committee Seeks New Members
The Rabbi’s Corner
- "The Heart Weeps"
Education
- Shir Hadash Playdate with Rabbi Seeg, August 13
Ongoing Fundraisers
- Help Shir Hadash Earn Free Donations with iGive
- Fundraising Opportunity with Amazon Smile
- Samuel I. Andes Scholarship Fund
- Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers: The Continental and Butterfield’s
SHOP Shir Hadash
MEMBERSHIP AND UPCOMING EVENTS
This month, Rabbi Eitan is
holding two meet-n-greets for members and prospective members. Drop in for a cup
of coffee and a nosh, and share with Rabbi Eitan your ideas, comments, and
thoughts about services, worship, and spirituality at Shir Hadash!
- Tuesday, August 11, 5:30 to 7:00pm, at Panera, 1228 W. Dundee Road in Buffalo Grove (northwest corner of Dundee and Arlington Heights Roads, near Buffalo Grove High School)
- Monday, August 24, 2:00 to 3:30pm at Panera, 190 Waukegan Road in Deerfield.
Come to either, or both! All are welcome for these informal
conversations.
It's time again for our annual day of Fun, Food, Family & Friends! Online registration is now available for our Community Potluck Picnic to be held at Shir Hadash on August 23, starting at 4:00pm. There will be games, music, and great socializing. We will be grilling Kosher hamburgers and hot dogs. (Please remember that since we are serving Kosher meat, all pot luck dishes need to be dairy free.) Click here to learn more and RSVP.
Shir Hadash Golf Outing, August 16
Save the date for a day of golf with your friends from Shir Hadash. We will play on Sunday, August 16 at Sportsman's Park in Northbrook, 3635 Dundee Road. Tee times start at 1:00pm. $57/person for 18 holes, including a golf cart. Prizes will be awarded! RSVP to Mitch Whitefield at whitefi@attglobal.net or 224 622 1880.
Save the date for a day of golf with your friends from Shir Hadash. We will play on Sunday, August 16 at Sportsman's Park in Northbrook, 3635 Dundee Road. Tee times start at 1:00pm. $57/person for 18 holes, including a golf cart. Prizes will be awarded! RSVP to Mitch Whitefield at whitefi@attglobal.net or 224 622 1880.
It's time once again to renew your membership to Shir Hadash. All the forms you need for membership, school registration, and more are available online here. Please be sure to complete your renewal promptly. If you have any questions, contact info@shir-hadash.org.
Huge Rummage Sale Completed
Last
weekend, Shir Hadash held its second annual rummage sale. Due to the very
generous donations of our members, we literally had mountains of great items that were for sale. The two day event drew numerous customers and
the result was a profitable weekend for Shir Hadash! Due to your outpouring of
donations, we have many items leftover that will be donated to the Chicago
Chesed Fund to help Jews in need.
A mountain-sized
thank you to all the people who donated goods, and to the many volunteers who
worked long hours to sort donations, price the items, and run the sale. All
your hard work made a real difference to our community!
The Solar Capital Campaign is making progress on our goal of raising funds to help pay for the Solar Power System that will soon be installed on our roof. We hope to have the system installed this summer. To learn more about our dream to go green, please read our story on the Chicago Tribune's website. Then be sure to visit our website where you can make a donation to help purchase a Solar Panel, a Solar Inverter, or donate other amounts. If you have any questions about the Solar Capital Campaign, please contact Art German at artgerman@comcast.net.
Our next Book Club meeting will be Tuesday, August 25, at 7:30pm, at the home of Gerry Freibrun, 574 Cyprus Point Court in Riverwoods. Our book will be Invisible City by Julia Dahl. Please RSVP to Meryl Abensohn, abenkras@aol.com.
CREATIVE WORSHIP AND RITUAL
This Week's Services:
Tot/Family Dinner and Shabbat, Friday August 7, 5:30pm
Our next Tot/Family Shabbat Event is coming up on Friday, August 7. This fun family event is designed for families with children up to third grade. We'll be serving sloppy joes, vegetarian chili, and tater tots at 5:30pm. Around 6:00pm, Rabbi Eitan will lead a lively service that includes Shabbat prayers, plus story, song and dance. After the service there will be refreshments, so please bring treats to share. Click here to RSVP online so we can be sure to have plenty of tots for all!
Shabbat Evening Service, Friday August 7, 7:30pm
"Reconstructionism 101"
We know that many of you have had this experience: you tell someone you go to a Reconstructionist synagogue, and they ask, "So what's that?" At Friday night's service, Rabbi Eitan helps you know how to respond! As part of the service, the Rabbi will explain what Reconstructionism is -- and how Jews have always been "reconstructing" throughout the ages. Come and learn -- and bring something for the oneg!
New! High Holidays – Register and Help!
High Holidays are coming soon – Selichot, which starts the
holiday season, is Saturday, September 5! You should have gotten an e-mail
about registration – if not, please let us know, at cwr@shir-hadash.org. In
addition to registering, we need your help making the holidays happen. There are many parts to play in creating the
program – calling people to read parts, transporting stuff over to Our Lady of
the Brook (and back), preparing and serving food, helping with the kids’
program, taking registration calls and questions at the office, and many other
things that happen “behind the scenes.”
If you would like to help in any way, please let us know – just send a
note to cwr@shir-hadash.org , and we’ll find something for you to do.
Thanks, and we’ll look forward to seeing you on the Holidays
(if not before)!
MUSIC
Sing With Us for the High Holidays!
Do you love to sing? Have you wanted to be part of Shir Hadash's music on the High Holidays? This is your year! Rehearsals for High Holidays have just begun, so you can still get involved. If you've sung with a multi-part choir in the past and have a basic ability to read music, please contact Ken Wexler at 847 769 8247 or ken.wexler@lockton.com for more information.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Want to help out, but hate going to meetings? Read on! We are looking for a few good people to help on the Shul Cloud team. If you have been looking for a way to get involved with helping the synagogue and have some knowledge in technology -- we want you! We are looking for people who:
- Enjoy teaching and coaching
- Have experience with computers other than word processing
- Have experience with web or graphic design
After initial training, there are no regular meetings. You get to help out the shul in a very needed way, and everything can be done from home! Everything thing we do is task based -- assuming we have a full team, we will be able to flex the work around different schedules and skill sets easily.
Interested? Please contact Lise Schleicher at info@shir-hadash.org as soon as possible. We hope to get the team trained and running in early August.
High Holiday Food Baskets, August 23 and 30
Once again this year, Shir Hadash will be joining with Maot Chitim of Greater Chicagoland to help them pack and deliver High Holiday food baskets for needy Jewish families all over the Chicago area. There are two different ways you can help, either packing food boxes or delivering them.
- Packing will take place on Sunday, August 23 from 9:30 to 10:15am. The address for the packing is 1808 Holste Rd., Northbrook, IL.
- Delivery of food packages will take place on Sunday, August 30 from 9:30 to 11:30 am in the Buffalo Grove/Wheeling area. We will be delivering 105 food packages, which will be in large boxes weighing approximately 20 lbs. each. We deliver to several large complexes and use a rental truck to transport the boxes. I will provide the address of where to meet for those interested in helping deliver boxes.
The Building Operations Committee is looking for new committee members. Specifically, the committee needs a person with interior/exterior experience and someone with general building supervisory experience. The BOC meets once a month on the third Wednesday of the month. Please contact Marc Fargotstein at 847-612-6579.
THE RABBI’S CORNER
August 7-8,
2015 / 23 Av 5775
Shabbat Ekev
Torah:
Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25 / Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3
“The Heart Weeps”
Dear Friends,
You have heard me declare the beauty and glory of the Land
of Israel numerous times through this blog.
You have read my limitless praise for the establishment of the State of
Israel and all its wonder, hope, and promise for the future of the Jewish
people. I remain positive and optimistic
despite the events of previous weeks in the Holy Land.
You see, in recent weeks, three incidents of Jewish
terrorism occurred – three incidents that shocked the soul of the Jewish people
and brought tears to our hearts. In one
incident, Jewish fanatics burned the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores
of the Sea of Galilee. In a second
incident, Jewish extremists firebombed two homes in the West Bank town of
Duma. An 18-month old baby, Ali Saad
Dawabshe was killed and other members of the family are still fighting for
their lives. Spray painted on the walls in Hebrew were the words, “Revenge” and
“Long live the king messiah.”
In another incident, and ultra-Orthodox man wielding a
butcher's knife, attacked a crowd at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride Parade. Six people were stabbed and 16-year-old high
school student Shira Banki died.
In this week’s Torah portion Moses cautions us that when we
return to the Land of Israel and enjoy the wonderful bounty and blessing which
God bestows upon us, we must be careful not to grow arrogant and haughty. We must be careful not to become conceited
and so over-confident that we transgress God’s law and commit heinous and
sinful acts. These events committed by
pious Orthodox Jews have me wondering.
Yes, Israel and the Jewish people have many concerns and much to worry
about. Nevertheless, our tradition
teaches us to rise to the high ground and act with responsibility, justice, and
fairness. We are a light unto the
nations and must lead by the most righteous example. The perpetrators must be
brought to justice and a clear message sent to the world that this behavior is
not Jewish and will never be tolerated.
Yes, the heart weeps.
Ultimately, Moses’ message of keeping faithful to our holy tradition of
law and justice will win out. Israel’s eternal message of wonder, hope, and
promise will continue.
To read past entries of the Rabbi's blog, please visit our website.
EDUCATION
Shir Hadash Playdate, August 13
- Thursday, August 13, 5:00 to 7:00pm, Northside Park, 200 Glendale Street in Wheeling
Join Rabbi Seeg and current and prospective members for some summer fun! We'll meet on Thursday August 13 from 5:00 to 7:00pm at Northside Park on Glendale Street, just over the bridge from Shir Hadash. (Please note the location change.) Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy a special treat that Rabbi Seeg has planned for dessert! For more information, contact Rabbi Seeg at (847) 498-8218 or learning@shir-hadash.org.
DONATIONS
To the General Fund- Nori and Rob Spiro, in memory of Dr. Eric Wellisch, father and father-in-law of Dan and Julie Wellisch
To the Solar Panel Fund
- Mehran Farahmandpour
ONGOING FUNDRAISERS
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.
Amazon Smile Fundraising Option
Shir Hadash is now registered with the Amazon Smile fundraising program. Just go to smile.amazon.com, search for Shir Hadash (be sure to select the one in Wheeling), and from then on 0.5% of your purchases will automatically be donated to Shir Hadash at no cost to you! Note that this works in conjunction with iGive (see below) and allows for double-dipping: if you go to Amazon through iGive.com or the iGive button, SH will get money from both Amazon and iGive. And to triple-dip, just pay for your purchases with a SHOP Amazon gift card! Happy Shopping!
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. 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 Over the Summer!
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.
Bonus Offers Now Available:
Meijer Illinois Grand Opening Bonus: 4% on physical cards until August 28.
Six Flags Tickets Available
Please note, Six Flags® tickets are once again available to order. Tickets cost $44.25 and award a 7% rebate. Tickets ordered now are valid through the 2015 season only, expiring on 12/31/15.
Bonus Offers
Restaurant.com -- 5% bonus July 18-August 7
Now Available: $25 spa and wellness gift cards by Spa Week.
New ScripNow Retailer: The Children's Place
Summer hours for Customer Support at Great Lakes Scrip, one of our Shop vendors: 8:00am - 4:00pm Eastern Monday through Thursday, and 8:00am - 12:00pm Eastern on Fridays. They will resume their normal schedule on Tuesday, September 8.
Bonus Offers
Restaurant.com -- 5% bonus July 18-August 7
Now Available: $25 spa and wellness gift cards by Spa Week.
New ScripNow Retailer: The Children's Place
Summer hours for Customer Support at Great Lakes Scrip, one of our Shop vendors: 8:00am - 4:00pm Eastern Monday through Thursday, and 8:00am - 12:00pm Eastern on Fridays. They will resume their normal schedule on Tuesday, September 8.
Thanks to the following families for participating in SHOP this week:
- Zinbarg
- Schleicher
- Goldman-Estes
- Anderson
- Singer
- Farahmandpour
- M. Graff
- Fargotstein
- G. Graff
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