WHAT’S HAPPENING AT A GLANCE
Membership News and Upcoming Events
- Simchat Torah Festivities, October 4
- Financial Services Education Series
- Book Club
- Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, November 1
- Sunday Morning Specials -- Bagels, Coffee, and Bears Football
Creative Worship and Ritual
- Shabbat Evening Service: Friday, October 2, 7:30pm
- Shabbat Morning Bar Mitzvah Service: Saturday, October 3, 9:30am
The Rabbi’s Corner
- "Praying for Rain"
- No Sunday Morning School, October 4
- Ra'am Sports Day, October 4
- Connect Event for Grades 6-9: Police Department Tour, October 17
- 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
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! During the service we will also honor students who are new to our Sunday school. Don't miss the Mighty Shir Hadash Klezmer Band or the Affy Tapples and oneg afterward! To learn more and to RSVP for dinner, visit the Shir Hadash Calendar and click on October 4 to view the Simchat Torah event page. Please RSVP for dinner no later than Saturday, October 3. Questions? Call the office at 847 498 8218.
If you can't make it for dinner, come to the service anyway! During the service we will also honor students who are new to our Sunday school. Don't miss the Mighty Shir Hadash Klezmer Band or the Affy Tapples and oneg afterward! To learn more and to RSVP for dinner, visit the Shir Hadash Calendar and click on October 4 to view the Simchat Torah event page. Please RSVP for dinner no later than Saturday, October 3. Questions? Call the office at 847 498 8218.
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.
- Maximizing Social Security: Tuesday, October 13, at Carlucci in Rosemont from 6:00 - 7:30pm. Space is limited for this private Shir Hadash event, and you must RSVP to be added to the guest list.
- College Funding: Thursday, October 22 at Shir Hadash from 7:00 - 8:30pm.
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
Services this Week
- Shabbat Evening Service: Friday, October 2, 7:30pm
- Please join us on Friday night (at 7:30) for a very special Sukkot service. We will welcome an old friend and former member, Stephanie Tivona Reith, who is now living in the Pacific Northwest and serving as a rabbinic pastor and Jewish spiritual director. Stephanie will lead us in a special meditation for the Sukkot festival, and we will enjoy a restful and restoring experience in our beautiful Sukkah. Please come - and don't forget to bring something for the oneg. See you Friday night!
- Shabbat Morning Bar Mitzvah Service, Saturday, October 3, 9:30am
- We will welcome Billy Matt to the bima as our Bar Mitzvah. All are welcome to participate in the service.
- Simchat Torah Service: Sunday, October 4, 6:30pm
- Please see above for details for this service and the pre-service pizza dinner.
THE RABBI’S CORNER
October 2-3,
2015 / 20 Tishrei 5776
Shabbat Chol
Ha-Mo’ed Sukkot
Torah:
Exodus 33:12 - 34:26 / Haftarah: Ezekiel 38:18 – 39:16
“Praying for Rain”
Dear Friends,
Today we don’t give water much thought. We turn on the
faucet, flush the toilet, run the washing machine, and the water is just there.
Perhaps due to human nature, we assume that just as it always has been there it
always will be there. In our generation, we have never known the toil of
drawing water from the well. We have never truly known the fear of drought,
watching our crops wither and die, wondering how we’ll survive through the
year. And thankfully we’ve also taken the safety of our water for granted,
drinking our water without fear that it carries with it pollutants, chemicals,
or disease. With this reality, we have taken water for granted, mistreating it,
and wasting it, as if it was an unlimited resource that would never run out.
Today, we are beginning to recognize that water doesn’t come from the faucet.
Someone must collect it, clean and purify and deliver it. More importantly, it
must be present in the well to collect.
Judaism has always included this basic need for water in our
prayers. Jewish tradition long connected adherence to the laws of the Torah
with the blessing of rain. In the second paragraph of Shema we read the verse
which states, “And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto
My commandments which I command you this day… that I will give the rain of your
land in its season… and you shall eat and be satisfied…” (Deuteronomy 11:13-15)
We emphasize our dependence upon the need for rain most explicitly during the
week-long festival of Sukkot and during the last day, called Shemini Atzeret,
during which the Prayer for Rain is said. During that prayer we mention God as
“Mashiv Haruach u’morid Hagashem”—“the one who blows the wind and brings the
rain.” Thus, the Sages wove water awareness into Jewish consciousness through
the mechanism of prayer.
Barbara Kingsolver, in an essay entitled Water is Life
wrote, “Water is life. It's the briny broth of our origins, the pounding
circulatory system of the world, a precarious molecular edge on which we
survive. It makes up two-thirds of our bodies, just like the map of the world;
our vital fluids are saline, like the ocean. The apple doesn’t fall far from
the tree. Even while we take Mother Water for granted, humans understand in our
bones that she is the boss. We stake our civilizations on the coasts and mighty
rivers. Our deepest dread is the threat of having too little moisture—or too
much.” As Jews, we must learn to appreciate each and every drop.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
EDUCATION ANNOUNCEMENTS
No Morning Sunday School October 4
Our regular Sunday School classes will not meet this Sunday, but we strongly encourage all of our students and their families to come to the Simchat Torah dinner and service that evening! It is a wonderful community experience, and our new students will be given special recognition during the service. Hope to see you all there, and we will be back on our regular Sunday schedule on October 11.
TEEN NEWS
Ra'am BBYO Upcoming Events
Sports Day for Grades 8-12, October 4
Come play team sports with your Ra'am friends at Michelle's house from 3:00 to 4:30pm on Sunday, October 4. Email raambbyo@gmail.com for more info or directions.
Connect for Grades 6-8: Police Department Tour, October 17
On Saturday , October 17 at 7:00pm, Ra'am will be getting a special tour of the Northfield Police Department followed by a Q&A session with a real police sergeant! (Crazy, right?) This is a Connect event so make sure you bring all of your middle school Jewish friends and family. Program is open to grades 6-8. For more info and to RSVP, contact raam@gmail.com.
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
Fall Into SHOP!
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
Hallmark Gold Crown -- 2% September 26 to October 9
Bonuses Beginning October 3
Bed Bath & Beyond -- 1% until October 16
Cabela's -- 3% until October 16
Caribou -- 1% on physical cards, September 19 to October 2
Shutterfly -- 2%, September 19 to October 2
Hallmark Gold Crown -- 2% September 26 to October 9
Bonuses Beginning October 3
Bed Bath & Beyond -- 1% until October 16
Cabela's -- 3% until October 16
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
Idleman
Sulpar
Herbin
Sultan
Fisher-Rohde
Friedman
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