Rick Levine, an award-winning television commercial director who brought a big-screen sensibility to the small screen with widely celebrated spots, died on March 11 at his home in Marina del Rey, CA, age 94. Mr. Levine won a total of four Clio Awards — advertising’s equivalent of the Oscars — for Super Bowl ads for Diet Pepsi and DuPont. In explaining these success and many others, he told The New York Times, “I attract the [...]
May he rest in peace.
Members of our shul and the North Fork Reform Synagogue in Cutchogue will meet on Zoom on Wednesday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m., to join with Jewish communities around the world observing Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day — honoring the Six Million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles, and antisemitism rises throughout the world, remembering those who were lost from 1939-1945 becomes critical to a mission [...]
Shul member Judith K. Weiner, working with the staff at Peconic Landing, has arranged a Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) program at the senior living community in Greenport. Judith Weiner will introduce the program and featured speaker Rena Wiseman will share her story with the residents as candles bearing the names of children lost in the Holocaust are lighted. Afterward, participants will view the film, “Zone of Interest.” Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, the [...]
The Book Circle will meet on Thursday, May 15, at 3 p.m., in the community room at the shul, where the group will talk about Goyhood, a debut novel by Reuven Fenton. Here, a devoutly Orthodox man discovers in middle age that he is not, in fact, Jewish. He is, however, a Talmud scholar, married into one of the greatest rabbinical families in the world. Now what? Meyer Belkin grapples with a God he believes [...]
Veronica Kaliski, chair of the shul’s Tikkun Olam Group, told The Shofar that the annual donation of funds to provide chickens to CAST clients took place this year in time for Easter. In acknowledging the $300 contribution, Sarina Harley, CAST’s interim food relief program manager, thanked the group and the shul for generosity in time for Easter. “We are elated to have so much chicken to distribute to the CAST clients,” she wrote. “Chicken is [...]
Our shul hosted a Second Seder on Sunday, April 13. The beautiful table setting invited participants into the community room, where Rabbi Gadi led the gathering through the dramatic Passover story of slavery in Egypt and the flight to freedom through the parted sea and 40 years in the desert to the land of Israel. Later that week, the shul hosted the annual Model Seder luncheon for GEM (Greenport Ecumenical Ministries) clergy and their parishioners. [...]
The Yellow Candle Project A Holocaust Remembrance Please join us today, April 23, at 7:30 p.m., on Zoom, when we will light our candles together in memory of the six million. Meeting ID: 230 626 645 Password: 955110 The Yellow Candle Project is a moving tribute to the six million. Each participating family will receive a yellow candle to be lighted at home, when all will join together on Zoom to share this solemn experience. Attached to [...]
The following letter to the editors was sent to the members of GEM (Greenport Ecumenical Ministries), and is reprinted here, with permission: Dear GEMs, On behalf of Congregation Tifereth Israel and myself, I extend our heartfelt condolences to our Catholic brothers and sisters on the passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis. His papacy has accompanied me through most of my rabbinic journey, and when I think of the role of the pope through a [...]
The period between Purim and Passover, two festivals that are deeply intertwined, is a journey of connection to our innermost identity. Both tell stories of danger, courage, and redemption. On Purim, we wear masks; on Passover, we remove them. We deflate not only our bread but our egos. We strip away the disguises we wear in exile. Between the two holidays, I’ve been immersed in reading Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove’s recent and compelling book, For Such a Time as [...]
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