If you need assistance, please email the office at admin@shir-hadash.org or call 847-498-8218 (messages left will be picked up remotely if no one is in the office). You may additionally reach the Rabbi on his cell 847-525-7746 at any time, and our President, Marc Fargotstein, who welcomes your calls on any matter, at 847-612-6579. For more information about our COVID-19 response plan, click here .
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT A GLANCE
Creative Worship and Ritual
- This Week: Multigenerational Service via Zoom, Friday December 4, 7:00 p.m.
- Next Week: Community Hanukkah Shabbat Service & Celebration! Friday, December 11, 7:00 p.m.
- New! Hanukkah Nightly Candle Lighting, December 10-17, 6:15 p.m.
The Rabbi's Corner -- "Women Leaders"
Religious School
- Religious School is Back! December 6, 10:15 a.m.
- Registration is open! Religious School Hanukkah Virtual Celebration, December 13
Adult Education
- Sunday Morning Adult Ed Programs This Week
- Lunch & Learn with the Rabbi Resumes December 3, 1:00 p.m.
Membership News and Events
- Shir Hadash Needs Your Support! Take Advantage of Two New Tax Benefits for Charitable Donations
- Tomorrow! Food Kits from Max & Benny's: Pickup at SH December 4
- Tomorrow! Hanukkah Glow Stick Distribution, December 4
- Sunday! "Unlock the Magic" Event for Grades K-7, December 6, 1:00 p.m.
- Mussar Discussion Group, December 10, 7:30 p.m.
- Book Club, December 17
Social Justice
- White Fragility Multi-Part Book Discussion, Round 2
Ongoing Fundraisers
- Gift Cards for the Holidays Help Shir Hadash
- iGive, Amazon Smile, and ShopWithScrip
CREATIVE WORSHIP AND RITUAL
Multigenerational Shabbat Service via Zoom, Friday, December 4, 7:00 p.m. -- A Family Friendly service for all school families, seniors, not-yet seniors, and anyone else who would like to come worship with us as a community. Religious School Students will receive Hebrew names. Enjoy a Shabbat service with fun music, delightful stories, and Shabbat joy.
Next Week! Community Hanukkah Shabbat Service & Celebration! Friday, December 11, 7:00 p.m. - Rabbi Eitan will lead us in song and share lessons. Then, we will light the Hanukkah menorah and sing the blessings. Don’t miss this wonderful Shir Hadash tradition, this year adapted for Zoom! As always, we will have a glow stick dance for the festival of light--including glow sticks! To pick yours up, swing by the synagogue on Dec. 4 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (Max and Benny's food kits will be available for pickup at the same time).
New! Hanukkah Nightly Candle Lighting with Rabbi Eitan, December 10-17 -- Join Rabbi Eitan on Hanukkah evenings for a special 15-minute candle lighting ceremony. The Rabbi will be on Zoom each evening of Hanukkah at 6:15 for a ceremony of song, readings, and blessings. Join on any or all nights, as you wish! (On Friday evening we will light the candles at the Shabbat service at 7:00 p.m.). Have your hanukiyot (Hanukkah menorahs) ready and we will all light together. Apart/Together - What a great way to celebrate our Festival of Light this year!
THE RABBI’S CORNER
December 4-5, 2020 / 19 Kislev 5781 / Shabbat Vayishlach
Torah Reading: Genesis 32:4 - 36:43 / Haftarah Reading: Obadiah 1:1-21
“Women Leaders”
Dear Friends,
While most of the characters in the Hebrew Bible are male, the female characters that do appear are powerful and courageous. In this week’s portion, Jacob’s daughter Dina meets and befriends the “locals” of Canaan and falls in love with a prince named Shechem. Although a marriage is arranged, terrible violence ensues on the part of Dina’s brothers Shimon and Levi. Despite the brothers’ terrible actions, Dina comes off as a woman of strength and conviction.
We live in a time of increasing awareness and welcoming of women’s leadership in our society. The change is visible in so many places. Recently, I noticed how many female engineers and technicians were involved in the SpaceX Crew Dragon launch that brought four astronauts to the International Space Station. We all note that the Vice-President Elect is Kamala Harris, the first woman elected to this office.
Through the story of Dina, the Torah teaches us that women play important leadership roles in our community and make great contributions towards changing our world for the better.
Zay a mentsch – be a good person.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
Read past editions of The Rabbi's Corner on the Shir Hadash website.
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL
Religious School is Back, December 6! -- We hope you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Be sure to join your Shir Hadash teachers on December 6 as we start to get ready for Hanukkah. If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Goldberg or Alan Bernover.
Religious School Hanukkah Celebration, Sunday, December 13, 10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Register today to join the Shir Hadash Religious School Community for an all-school Virtual Hanukkah Celebration. This event is open to all K-7th Graders of Shir Hadash, even if they are not enrolled in school this year, as well as non-members who have been invited by currently enrolled Religious School students.
The program will begin with a song and story session led by Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow and our Education Director Rachel Goldberg, followed by small group rotation to special activities led by our madrichim'ot (Teen Leaders) and our Family Activity Committee. NOTE: All children participating should have paper, pencil, and coloring supplies nearby and ready when they log-in to the zoom event.
ADULT EDUCATION
Adult Ed Sunday Morning Programs: Adults are welcome to join in the following adult education programs on Sunday mornings:
- 10:00 a.m. -- Torah and Jewish Philosophy via Zoom. Contact Fred Andes for details.
- 11:00 a.m. -- Hebrew Reading via WebEx -- contact Steve Lewin.
Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Eitan, December 3, 1:00 p.m. -- Join Rabbi Eitan next week, December 3, for an engaging examination of the week's Torah portion via Zoom. Lunch and Learn meets on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m.
MEMBERSHIP NEWS AND EVENTS
Shir Hadash Needs Your Support! Take Advantage of Two New Tax Benefits for Charitable Donations – In this challenging year, Shir Hadash appreciates any extra support you can give. The 2020 CARES Act has special provisions to allow certain deductions for charitable giving from personal income tax returns, whether or not the taxpayer usually itemizes deductions. Click Here for more information, and please plan to include Shir Hadash in your year-end giving. Thank you!
Tomorrow! Max and Benny's Food Kits: Pickup at SH on December 4 – If you placed an order for a fun food kits from Max and Benny’s, drive by Shir Hadash for a contactless pickup on Friday, December 4 between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. When picking up your order, please remember to wear masks and maintain social distancing. We're looking forward to seeing you!
Tomorrow! Hanukkah Glow Stick Distribution, December 4 -- We are fast approaching our Community Hanukkah Celebration on Friday night, December 11. To prepare for the celebration, we are coordinating a contactless pickup event tomorrow, December 4 to provide glow sticks to everyone in our community and chocolate gelt for our youngest members. Our dedicated leader Marc Fargotstein will be at the Synagogue Friday, December 4 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm to pass out bags with glow sticks and gelt in a contactless environment.
Simply drive up to the doorway to the Synagogue and let him know how many members are in your household so he can provide you with the correct number of glow sticks. Please also tell him how many children are in your home so he can ensure each child is provided gelt as a special treat too! While you’re there, you also can pick up any Max and Benny’s boxes (above) that you chose to pre-order.
Sunday! Family Activities Committee presents "Unlock the Magic," December 6, 1:00 pm - Whether reading from a magical tome/ Torah or Talmudic text, your own Yad will help you follow along while you are reading. Hang out with friends and schmooze while making your own yad in this guided crafting event via Zoom! Registration for this event has closed. We will email you to arrange a supplies pickup. Email Elliott Simon for more information.
Mussar Discussion Group, December 10, 7:30 p.m. – Mussar is a centuries old Jewish body of teachings, a perspective, and a disciplined practice that provides distinctively Jewish answers to the sorts of questions any thinking person asks about life. Our monthly Mussar discussion group will meet by Zoom at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 10. To participate, contact Lynn Liebling.
Book Club Selection for December - Our Book Club will be reading The Physician, a novel by Noah Gordon. Our virtual meeting will be December 17. Click here for details.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Want to be a New Participant in Multi-Part Book Discussion of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism? If you couldn't participate in our multi-session discussions of White Fragility in September, let us know if you might be interested in participating for four consecutive weeks in early 2021. Each session will last 90 minutes. Day and time are to be determined. If you might be interested or if you have questions, email Lisa Burton Radzely at socialactionsh@gmail.com.
ONGOING FUNDRAISERS
Gift Cards for the Holidays Help Shir Hadash - SHOP Shir Hadash allows members to order physical and electronic gift cards from thousands of stores and Shir Hadash receives a portion of every purchase. Purchase can be for gifts or your personal use. Thousands of dollars can be generated for Shir Hadash at no cost to you. Click here for more information. Once registered, electronic and physical cards can be ordered instantly ordered using the RaiseRight app on your phone or through our vendor shopwithscrip.com. Contact Glenn Graff for more information.
When you’re shopping online, be sure to consider these donation programs that support Shir Hadash at no extra cost to you!
iGive -- There are 2500 online retailers helping to make donations happen through iGive. Click here to learn more. or contact Sandi Schleicher .
Amazon Smile -- Amazon will automatically donate 0.5% of your purchase to when you sign up at smile.amazon.com . Be sure to select "Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue-Congregation Shir Hadash" in Wheeling as your charity of choice.
To view past editions of the Newsletter, please visit our website .
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