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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT A GLANCE
Shir Hadash Adopts Voluntary Commitment Dues Model
Creative Worship and Ritual
- Family Shabbat, Friday May 3, 5:30 pm
- Evening Service with Lahaka, Friday May 3, 7:30 pm
- Shabbat Morning Service, Saturday May 4, 9:30 am
- Yom Ha'Shoah Memorial Service at Religious School, Sunday May 5, 11:45 am
- Sponsor an Oneg
The Rabbi’s Corner -- "“We Celebrate Life: Responding to the Poway Chabad San Diego Synagogue Attack”
- Religious School and Open House, May 5 -- Spread the Word!
- Adult Education Programs
- Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Eitan, Thursdays
- Saturday Night! Coffee House Night Concert Series Presents Scarlett Andes, May 4, 7:30pm
- Annual Meeting May 19, 9:15am
- Flower Planting, May 19, 12:30pm
- Join SH in the Buffalo Grove Pride Parade, June 2
- Book Club, June 6
- Notes from Nancy
- New! Book Drive for Bernie's Book Bank Going on Now
- Sock Drive Extended Through May 19
Israel Awareness
- Israeli Film Series
- Did You Know? Facts About Israel - Botany Edition
Jewish Community Events
- Networking for Success: The Jewish Connection, May 7
- Jewish National Fund Yom Ha'atzmaut Community Celebration, May 9
- JUF Dinner Honoring Dr. Steven B. Nasatir, May 29
- JCC/JUF Presents "Chicago Loves Israel" Celebration, June 2
- "Anti-Semitism in Our Backyard," June 11
- Sponsor a Bimah Art Panel
- SHOP Shir Hadash
- Simcha Tree Leaves
- Don’t Forget Our Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers!
- Shir Hadash Memorial Wall
- Links to Fundraisers: Amazon, iGive, and More
Voluntary Commitment Model - Shir Hadash has some very exciting news! We are letting go of our outdated traditional dues structure and moving to a more modern and engaging approach, which we are calling the Voluntary Commitment Model. This new model encourages you to determine how much to give based upon your level of commitment, Shir Hadash's needs, and what you can afford. Our goal is to recognize each person's personal journey, while embracing a congregation-wide commitment to meeting our congregation's fiscal needs.
Representatives from the Membership Committee will be at the synagogue and available to talk with you during the Open House on Sunday, May 5. There will also be time for questions at the Annual Meeting on May 19. Additional information is available on our website.
If you have questions or would like to volunteer to work with the Membership Committee, please contact us at committee.membership@shir-hadash.org.
- 5:30 pm -- Family Service with Rabbi Eitan & Rabbi Marcey: “Bonfire Shabbat - Hot Dogs and Real S’mores for Lag B’Omer” -- Our first service this Friday is intended for families with young children through 3rd grade. At 5:30, Rabbi Eitan & Rabbi Marcey will lead a lively service that includes the Shabbat prayers along with story, song, and dance. At 6:15, we’ll enjoy a hot dog dinner. It’s an interactive Shabbat experience not to be missed! Following the service, we will join for refreshments and a Shabbat activity. Bring treats to share at the oneg refreshments.
- 7:30pm -- Evening Shabbat Service -- Shabbat Aharei Mot; Solidarity Shabbat (Standing with the Worldwide Jewish Community)Join us for a special Shabbat service of solidarity in the face of the recent attack on the Poway Chabad synagogue in San Diego. Let us send the message that terror will not stop us from celebrating our Jewish heritage and tradition. Am Yisrael Chai – The people of Israel Lives! Our 6th and 7th Graders will help lead the service and the Lahaka adult choir will sing. Please bring a treat to share at the oneg refreshments following the service.
Saturday, May 4 -- Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 am: All are invited and encouraged to worship together in a service of healing and solidarity.
Sunday, May 5 -- Yom Ha'Shoah Memorial Service, 11:45 am: Our Religious School 7th grade class will lead a special service commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Sponsor an Oneg! Having a birthday, anniversary or remembrance? You can sponsor an oneg to celebrate. A dessert oneg is $136 and everybody appreciates and enjoys your hospitality. The donation covers all food, including a special celebration cake. Please contact Nancy Kekst at the synagogue office to make arrangements.
Oneg Volunteers Needed for Services--Sign up to help as an oneg volunteer for one of our upcoming services. It's easy: just clickhere to pick a date, bring a challah, and show up! You'll receive a reminder email the week before with more details. For more information, contact Sean Fisher-Rohde at oneg@shir-hadash.org.
May 3-4, 2019 / 29 Nisan 5779 / Shabbat Aharei Mot – Machar Hodesh
Torah: Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30
Haftarah: I Samuel 20:18 - 20:42 | Shabbat Machar Chodesh
Omer Day 14
“We Celebrate Life: Responding to the Poway Chabad San Diego Synagogue Attack”
Dear Friends,
This week’s Torah portion, Aharei Mot, contains the first part of the Holiness Code. This is a section of the book of Leviticus, which lays out the ritual, ethical, and moral traditions that Jews should observe in order to live holy and righteous lives. The emphasis here is on living and on life. We Jews are a people of life.
Thus, it brings terrible sadness to the whole Jewish world that we are confronting last Saturday’s attack on the Poway Chabad community in San Diego. This attack came exactly six months after the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. We send our condolences to the family of Lori Kaye, who was murdered in the attack. We send our blessings of refu’ah shleimah – a full and speedy healing to the three who were wounded, including Chabad Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. We express our deep appreciation to the first responders who rushed to the aid of all those in peril.
I encourage our whole Shir Hadash community to come to Shabbat services this weekend - Friday evening, May 3rd (Family service at 5:30pm / Community Service at 7:30pm) or Saturday morning, May 4th (9:30am). Let us come together as a synagogue family, united in worship and celebration of our Jewish tradition and our commitment to celebrate life. Let us send the message that despite the terror, we Jews will continue on and our spirit will not be broken. Let us send the message of Am Yisra’el Chai – the People of Israel lives.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
Religious School, May 5 -- We are looking forward to seeing all our students and families at Shir Hadash on Sunday morning. We will enjoy having lots of guests visit for our Open House (see below). In addition, our 7th grade class will lead a Yom Ha'Shoah commemoration service at 11:45 am, which is open to all members and the community at large. Please join us!
Spread the Word and Get $25 Gift Card! School Open House, May 5 -- We need your help! Please get the word out about our upcoming Religious School Open House Tell your friends, neighbors and long lost relatives about their chance to come in, meet Rabbi Eitan and Rabbi Marcey and have their child spend the morning in an actual class. Members who refer a family will receive a $25 Starbucks, Lettuce Entertain You or other gift card for each new family that attends the Open House! Interested member families can share the School Open House page at https://www.shir-hadash.org/openhouse.
Shabbat Services and Dinner with Grades 6 & 7, Friday May 3 -- Our sixth and seventh grade classes will help lead Shir Hadash's Shabbat Evening Service at 7:30 this Friday, May 3. At 6:15 (following the early Family Shabbat service), we will share a cookout style dinner with hot dogs and s'mores. Please let Rabbi Marcey know if your family will be coming, and if you have any dietary restrictions.
Adult Education Programs -- We currently offer three adult education classes on Sunday mornings: Torah and Jewish Philosophy with Fred Andes, Crash Course in Hebrew Prayers with Steve Lewin, and Living Judaism with Rabbi Eitan. To see the regular class times, visit the Shir Hadash calendar.
Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Eitan -- Each Thursday, join Rabbi Eitan and Shir Hadash members and friends for an exploration of the weekly Torah portion from 1:00 to 2:00pm.
This Weekend! Coffee House Night - Concert Series Presents Scarlett Andes, May 4 at 7:30 pm (Doors open at 7:00 pm) --We are thrilled to present one of our own, Scarlett Andes, accompanied by pianist Gail Mangurten of the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. Her 90-minute Solo Concert will span centuries of repertoire drawn from genres including Musical Theatre, Yiddish Theatre, Opera, and Contemporary Music. Reservations are now open; space will fill up quickly, so click here now to save your spot. A free will donation is welcomed.
If you'd like to be help out on the day of the event, or to contribute a baked good or item for our Treat Table, please contact Margie at MargiePromoPro1@aol.com and indicate your interest in joining the Coffee House Night Team. Thank you in advance for volunteering!
Annual Meeting May 19 -- The Shir Hadash 2019 annual meeting will be held on Sunday, May 19, 2019, at 9:15 a.m., at the synagogue. At the meeting, we will share important information, vote on nominees for open positions on the Board of Directors, and approve the Shir Hadash budget for 2019-2020. Click here for more information. (Remember to bring along some books or socks for our Social Action collection efforts -- scroll down for details!)
Flower Planting, May 19 -- After the Annual Meeting, come outside to help make our shul more beautiful as we plant flowers around the property! Bring your gloves and a spade or shovel and join your fellow gardeners from 12:30 to 2:30 pm. Volunteers can take home a plant as a thank you! Sign up on the sheet near the Bagel Bar.
March in the Buffalo Grove Pride Parade, June 2 -- Shir Hadash will participate in the first Buffalo Grove Pride Parade and Diversity Festival, celebrating diversity and showing our support for the LGBTQ+ community. Everyone is welcome to join us! More details here.
Book Club, June 6 -- Our next meeting will discuss Yiddish Civilisation: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation by Paul Kriwaczek. This is a fascinating work of non-fiction covering the history of Jews in Europe beginning around 980 C.E. We will be meeting at the home of Sandy Weiss in Northbrook at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to RSVP, contact Melanie Andes, fmandes@comcast.net.
NOTES FROM NANCY
Goose News! Our seasonal resident geese are the proud parents of six fluffy goslings. We were able to get some great photos before they left the security of our roof to explore the wider world. Safe travels!
Shir Hadashniks On the Road -- I've enjoyed hearing about the great trips our members have been taking this spring! Here are some photos they've shared -- feel free to send your travel photos!
Lise & Sandi Schleicher and Joe & Caryn McArdle visited Rome in April.
The Nach family enjoyed a vacation in Florida.
ISRAEL AWARENESS
Israeli Film Series at Shir Hadash: Our next Israeli film showing will be after Yom Kippur in the fall. If you have any suggestions, please contact Burton Kopulsky, bkopulsk@chicagobooth.edu.
Did You Know? Facts About Israel - Botany Edition!
- Some 2,600 types of plants have been identified in Israel, ranging from alpine species on the northern mountain slopes to Saharan species in the Arava in the south.
- The Seven Species are seven agricultural products, two grains and five fruits, which are listed in the Torah as being products of the Land of Israel. The seven species listed are wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olive oil, and date honey. These seven species were the staple foods consumed by the Jewish people in the land of Israel during biblical times. They contain special holiness, as reflected by the unique blessing recited after eating them, thanking God for the goodness of the land.
- The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens is a 30 acre oasis on the southeast corner of the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus that houses about 10,000 species arranged according to geography, with sections for plants native to the Mediterranean region, Central and Southwest Asia, Australia, North America, Europe and Southern Africa. It also has a large collection of bonsai trees, a tropical conservatory and an herb and medicinal plant garden. It is the largest collection in Israel and a living showcase for biodiversity.
- The Israel Society of Botany was founded by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the 1930s, as a similar society to those existing in Europe. The Society founded the Palestine Journal of Botany, which after the establishment of the State of Israel became the Israel Journal of Botany. The journal published papers related to systemic, physiological and ecological research on plants of Israel and the Near East.
New! Book Drive Going on Now -- Clean off those bookshelves or purchase a favorite for others to read. Throughout May, Shir Hadash is collecting gently-used and new books for birth through sixth grade. Bernie's Book Bank will distribute the books to children throughout the Chicago area. No dictionaries, textbooks, or religious books. Place books in the colorful box located in the lobby.
Monetary donations for Bernie's Book Bank can be placed in the tzedakah box near the prayer books, mailed or handed to the office, or made online. Checks should be made to Bernie's Book Bank. For online donations, click here and then select Social Action under Donation Type. Please include in the Payment Notes that you would like your donation to go to Bernie's Book Bank.
Some people have indicated that they would like to donate books or make monetary contributions in memory of Meryl Abensohn. Please put a note in the memo field of a check or enclose a note, and on the online donation page, there is a field for Dedicate and you can select In Memory Of.
Thank you for encouraging literacy and a love of reading! If you have any questions, email socialactionsh@gmail.com or ask Lisa Burton Radzely.
Sock Drive for the Homeless -- Northwest Suburban Interfaith Council is running its third annual "Knock Your Socks Off" sock drive at member congregations, including Shir Hadash. Drop off new socks for men, women or children in the box in the lobby by May 19. Donations will be distributed to homeless individuals and families in the northwest suburbs.
JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS
Networking for Success: The Jewish Connection, May 7 -- JVS Career and Employment will present an open networking opportunity for Job Seekers, Business Professionals and Business Owners to engage, create contacts and expand their outreach for opportunities. The free event will be held at Congregation Solel, 1301 Clavey Road in Highland Park, on Tuesday, May 7 from 6:00 to 8:00pm. Register here.
Jewish National Fund Yom Ha'atzmaut Community Celebration, May 9 -- Celebrate 71 years of Israel’s Independence with a traditional torch lighting ceremony featuring leaders from across the community. Guests include Boaz Konforty, star of the Israeli Netflix series Fauda. The event will be held at North Shore Congregation Israel, 1185 Sheridan Road in Glencoe, with a VIP reception at 6:00pm followed by the general program at 6:45. For more information, call (847) 656-8880.
JUF Dinner Honoring Dr. Stephen Nasatir, May 29 -- JUF invites you to a very special evening celebrating Dr. Steven B. Nasatir to honor his 40-year tenure as President of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago on Wednesday May 29 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. For more details and registration, click here.
Chicago Loves Israel, June 2 -- JCC Chicago and Jewish United Fund present a full-day of fun activities for all ages celebrating Israel's 71st anniversary. Films, activities, and live music performances fill the Bernard Weinger JCC, 300 Revere Drive in Northbrook. Click herefor details and registration.
"Anti-Semitism in our Backyard" June 11, 7:00 p.m. -- The Adult Jewish Education Co-op (AJEC) presents a discussion about the current anti-Semitic attitudes in the United States, the recently published anti-Semitic incident report, incidents and trends in the Chicago area, and how to respond. Speaker Michael Rothstein serves as a National Commissioner of the Anti Defamation League and is the former Chair of the ADL Midwest Board of Directors. The presentation will be held at Congregation Or Shalom in Vernon Hills and is open to the public free of charge.
ONGOING FUNDRAISERS
Dedication of Twelve Tribes Bimah Panels -- On April 5, we dedicated our Twelve Tribes Bimah Artwork Panels during our “Pausing in the Wilderness” service. Celebrating our fifth anniversary in our building, the art panels are a combined creation of artists Maureen Fisher Schweit and Abe Schor, who worked together on concept, design and colors.
You are invited to participate in this fundraising historic project by dedicating all or part of a panel. Three panels have been dedicated and three more are under consideration--Each panel dedication is $1,800; panels may be dedicated by more than one person and families may pool resources to dedicate one panel (e.g, $180 each by 10 people). Donors will be acknowledged on our new donor wall next to the Simcha Tree. At present, four panels have been dedicated and two more are under consideration. To learn more about the Bimah Panels, click here. For questions, panel reservation, choice and payment options, contact Executive Director Nancy Kleine Kekst at (216) 789-2452 (mobile) or email execdir@shir-hadash.org.
Simcha Tree Leaves Available for Purchase - Our Tree of Joy—a Simcha Tree—is situated in our Community Room to remind us of all the joys of our lives. The leaves come in copper, silver, and gold. Each leaf marks a lasting memory of a joyous simcha in the lives of members of Shir Hadash. We invite you to add your loved ones’ simchas to our Tree and share your nachas with our congregation or just add your loved ones’ names out of love. Leaves can be purchased to mark your special family or individual accomplishments. Click hereto see additional information and make your purchase.
Don’t Forget Our Permanent Restaurant Fundraisers - Now Including Flappy’s!--The Continental Restaurant in Buffalo Grove, Butterfield’s Restaurant in Northbrook, and now all three locations of Flappy’s 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.
Shir Hadash Memorial Wall--Having a Memorial Plaque for a loved one in Shir Hadash’s Memorial Wall ensures that Yahrzeit will be observed for them in perpetuity by our congregation.The cost for a plaque is $360. Many congregants prepay and reserve plaques.You may register for the plaque(s) through our website, or request a paper order form by calling the office (847-498-8218).
Fundraiser Information Available on Shul Cloud--You can help Shir Hadash at no extra cost to you by taking advantage of a variety of ongoing fundraisers, including iGive, Amazon Smile, and more. For complete details, click here.
SHOP SHOP SHOP!--SHOP is 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. Orders can be picked up in the Shir Hadash office. For more information, email Michelle at SHOP@shir-hadash.org.
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