WHAT’S HAPPENING AT A GLANCE
Membership News and Upcoming Events
- Sukkah-Palooza! September 27
- Live from NY's 92nd Street Y Comes to SH, September 30
- New! Simchat Torah Festivities, October 4
- Financial Services Education Series
- Book Club
- New! Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, November 1
- Sunday Morning Specials -- Bagels, Coffee, and Bears Football
Creative Worship and Ritual
- No Shabbat Services This Week
The Rabbi’s Corner
Ongoing Fundraisers- "Keep On Building"
- 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
Sukkah-Palooza! September 27
Come and be part of this new community celebration in our sukkah, right after Religious School at 12:25 on Sunday, September 27. We will make and hang decorations,shake the lulav and etrog, and eat lunch in the sukkah. Lunch from Pita Inn will include falafel, hummus, Israeli salad, rice, pita, and dessert. Fun for the whole family! Just $5 for adults, $3 for kids 12 and under. To RSVP, click here (payment will also be accepted at the door, but advance registration is appreciated to be sure we get enough food). Questions? Contact the office, 847-498-8218.
Shir Hadash is excited to announce that we will host webcasts of the Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y™ series. This renowned program brings lectures, interviews, and readings from nationally and internationally recognized political figures, entertainers, news makers, and authors to community organizations across America and Canada. Right now we are the only synagogue in the Chicago area offering ‘92Y’ programming.
To launch the series, we will host “Harold S. Kushner and Rachel Cowan with Peter J. Rubinstein: Living Well, Aging Well” on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:15pm. Broadcast live from the 92nd Street Y, this will be an interactive experience; members will have the chance to submit questions to the speakers. Join these great thinkers as they discuss faith, life lessons, wise aging, and more.
Upcoming presentations will include:
- Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks: “Not in God’s Name—Confronting Religious Violence,” Sunday, November 8, 7 p.m.
- World Politics with Ralph Buultjens: “Israel and its Neighbors,” Sunday, April 10, 2016, 4 p.m.
Admission for the lectures is free for Shir Hadash members; guests will be asked to make a donation of $5 per attendee. Click here for more information and to register. Be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity!
New! Simchat Torah Festivities, October 4
Come celebrate Simchat Torah with the Shir Hadash Community on Sunday, October 4. We'll start the evening with pizza dinner at 5:30, followed by a service at 6:30. This is always a special experience as our Torah scrolls are unrolled to begin a new year of study. If you are coming for dinner, the cost is $7.00 for adults, $4.00 for children 12 and under. If you can't make it for dinner, come to the service anyway! Watch for more details coming soon.
New! Simchat Torah Festivities, October 4
Come celebrate Simchat Torah with the Shir Hadash Community on Sunday, October 4. We'll start the evening with pizza dinner at 5:30, followed by a service at 6:30. This is always a special experience as our Torah scrolls are unrolled to begin a new year of study. If you are coming for dinner, the cost is $7.00 for adults, $4.00 for children 12 and under. If you can't make it for dinner, come to the service anyway! Watch for more details coming soon.
Shir Hadash is introducing a free, informational financial services series starting in October. The programs are being presented by Joanne Litman, a financial services professional with New York Life Chicago and an active Shir Hadash member and volunteer. She will draw from her team of professionals to bring additional expertise to the programs. Programs will include:
- Long Term Care Planning: Thursday, October 8, at Shir Hadash, 7:00—8:30pm. Long-Term Care Insurance may be a valuable part of your retirement planning. It may help protect your home, your savings, your legacy—giving you the means to afford the kind of care you may need as you age, in the manner in which you choose. Target audience is anyone ages 40 and up.
- Maximizing Social Security: Tuesday, October 13, at Carlucci in Rosemont from 6:00 - 7:30pm. Mary Beth Franklin, a nationally known personal finance and health issues expert, will share proven strategies to leverage social security and incorporate into your retirement planning. Space is limited for this private Shir Hadash event, and you must RSVP to be added to the guest list. Target audience is pre-retirees ages 50 - 62+.
- College Funding: Thursday, October 22 at Shir Hadash from 7:00 - 8:30pm. Topics will include: how much a four-year degree costs today (and what it may cost tomorrow); where to find free money for college; easy, tax-advantaged ways to start saving now; and places you can turn for more information and assistance. Target audience: parents and grandparents of children at any age.
To RSVP or ask questions, contact Joanne Litman at jlitman@ft.newyorklife.com.
The next Book Club selection will be All the Light We Cannot See, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Anthony Doerr. Our meeting will be at the end of October; watch for announcements of details coming soon.
Join Shir Hadash at the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema!
This year, we are going to see three short films at 5:30 on Sunday, November 1
at the AMC Theater in Northbrook Court:
- “Aya”: What if you were waiting for someone at the airport, and instead picked up a stranger? Funny, charming and bubbling below the surface with the excitement that comes of unexpected possibilities.
- “Dear God”: In this sweet, romantic homage to Jerusalem and to love, a security guard at the Western Wall watches a beautiful woman leaving notes between the stones. Taking the idea of doing God’s work to heart, he decides to read her notes and fulfill her wishes
- “Welcome and Our Condolences”: It’s 1991 in this hilariously clever mocumentary. Twelve-year-old Misha and his family are part of a massive Jewish immigration from the USSR to Israel, and he’s filming the whole thing—including the bureaucratic nightmare that unfolds when his great aunt dies right before they deplane.
After the films, we are “going Dutch” to Stir Crazy at
Northbrook Court for dinner, drinks, and/or dessert–your choice. It will be a
great chance to eat and discuss the short films.
We have a block of 20 tickets reserved; please click here
to sign up through the Shir Hadash website. Tickets are $12 a person. Last
year's tickets went very quickly so be sure to sign up soon!
Bagels and Coffee on Sunday Mornings
Each Sunday that we have Religious School, coffee and bagels are available in the lobby for purchase. President Glenn Graff and some Board members are usually around to discuss all things Shir Hadash. Stop in and sit and chat with your fellow Shir Hadashnicks and enjoy the mornings!
Football Games on TV before Religious School Pickup
The TV in the multipurpose room will be on prior to Religious School pickup. Rather than wait in your car, come on in and watch the first 25 minutes of the Bears game each Sunday.
CREATIVE WORSHIP AND RITUAL
No Shabbat Services this Week
Enjoy celebrating Shabbat at home.
THE RABBI’S CORNER
September
25-26, 2015 / 13 Tishrei 5776
Shabbat
Ha’azinu
Torah:
Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:52 / Haftarah: II Samuel 22:1 - 22:51
“Keep on Building”
Dear Friends,
While most people build and then disassemble their Sukkah
each year, some people actually use a permanent structure as their sukkah. Many
build a pergola, which becomes their “reusable” Sukkah year-after-year. Yet,
Jewish law renders this Sukkah a “Sukkah yeshanah”—an “old Sukkah”—unfit for
use during the holiday. According to Shulchan Aruch (636:1), in order to
refresh and renew an “old Sukkah” for use during the Sukkot one must, “renew
some aspect of the body of the Sukkah for the sake of the holiday.” Even a
small act of construction, say adding some extra timbers or a door frame just
for use during the holiday, as long as it represents a productive act of
building, renders the Sukkah kosher for use on the holiday.
The law requiring us to refresh and renew our Sukkah each
year carries a powerful message. Building the Sukkah reminds us that we cannot
allow ourselves to rest on our laurels and hope to maintain our spiritual lives
from year to year without effort. If we are to lead rich spiritual lives full of
vitality and action, we cannot permit ourselves to sit in an “old” Sukkah.
Rather, we must constantly search to add something new to reinvigorate and
revitalize ourselves.
Shir Hadash is growing and adding lots of new programs and
great opportunities to celebrate and live Jewishly. Thus, I encourage everyone to add to your
Jewish lives in the coming year. Come to services; attend our expanding adult
education offerings; join family education experiences; participate on a
committee. Every act goes a long way to
renewing our Jewish experience and adding meaning to our daily lives. Check our website for upcoming events.
Sukkot begins on Sunday evening, September 27th. Please come to our “Sukkah-Palooza” Lunch and
Sukkah decorating party to enjoy our new sukkah and add your creative touch.
Experience our Simchat Torah celebration on Sunday evening, October 4th, when
we share dinner, dance with our Torah scrolls and unroll a scroll to read from
the end and the beginning.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
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 in the New Year!
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.
Bonuses Now Available
Journeys – 3% bonus until October 2
Restaurant.com – 15% until October 2
Caribou -- 1% on physical cards, September 19 to October 2
Shutterfly -- 2%, September 19 to October 2
Landry's -- 4% September 12 to 25
The Limited -- 1% Septembe 12 to 25
Hallmark Gold Crown -- 2% September 26 to October 9
Caribou -- 1% on physical cards, September 19 to October 2
Shutterfly -- 2%, September 19 to October 2
Landry's -- 4% September 12 to 25
The Limited -- 1% Septembe 12 to 25
Hallmark Gold Crown -- 2% September 26 to October 9
Macy's $250 ScripNow e-cards available now.
Thanks to the following families for participating in SHOP this week:
Zinbarg
Schleicher
Idleman
Sulpar
Herbin
Sultan
Fisher-Rohde
Friedman
Kulesza
Sulpar
Herbin
Sultan
Fisher-Rohde
Friedman
Kulesza
