The Shofar joins the congregation in welcoming new members Ronald Rose and family of New York City and Greenport, and Lisa Bardack and Gary Levine of White Plains, NY, and Orient. We look forward to meeting you, and to participating with you in our spiritual, educational and social activities.
Many people choose to join our shul midway through the year, or even after the High Holidays, which leaves only a few months until dues are due again. Not fair, we said. So here’s the deal: Any individual or family joining between now and the end of the year will pay the new rate — $1,000 for families; $650 for individuals — for the remainder of this year, but will be paid-up members through 2024. [...]
Be sure to join us for September’s First Friday Oneg Shabbat on Sept. 1. Francis DuBois and Paul Jeselsohn have volunteered to host the noshing and schmoozing after the service. Shul member Nancy Torchio started it all when she offered to sponsor an Oneg Shabbat to honor her father, Charles Bogen, on his first yahrzeit. The promise of socializing in the community room over coffee and cake and other goodies drew an eyepopping turnout to [...]
The shul’s Book Circle group has chosen a novel focused on Palestine and the competing lives of sisters brought together after many years. Can they relate to each other, to the Palestine both knew as children, and to what is before them as they navigate the history, culture and politics of their homeland? The Books Circle meets monthly to explore works by Jewish writers and the topics meaningful to Jewish readers. The current selection, [...]
As you browse through the articles in this month’s issue of The Shofar, you will notice not one but several opportunities to demonstrate your volunteer spirit, to freely give time and labor to a community endeavor, as the official definition is stated. Will you step forward? First Friday: Host an Oneg Shabbat on the First Friday of October, November or December. Break-the-fast: Help us shop, slice, roll, plate, arrange foods for the break-the-fast meal. [...]
A picturesque village on the southwestern coast of Greenland, where Erik the Red first arrived more than 1,000 years ago, and where sheep outnumber the town’s population 20:1, is the home of Paul Cohen, an American Jew, and his wife Monika, who have lived here for 22 years — and love it. “It’s the Garden of Eden in many ways,” he says — “a little spot of civilization surrounded by pristine wilderness, and I have [...]
As the trial of the mass killer at the Tree of Life progressed over the summer, another man was blanketing Pittsburgh with hate and threats. He placed Nazi-themed stickers on street signs and playground equipment around the city, and his haste-filled screeds arrived in the email inboxes of local reporters and Jewish organizations. Photos of people who had testified at the trial, including those who had been wounded in the synagogue attack, showed up on [...]
Hoax phone calls to police departments or suicide hotlines say that a man is considering killing himself and others or that a bomb has been placed in a building. The address given belongs to a synagogue that is livestreaming its services so that the callers can watch in real time as the police interrupt the services and deal with frightened worshippers. The practice is called swatting, referring to police SWAT teams that generally are dispatched [...]
Many Jewish languages are endangered, including several from Iran. While most Iranian Jews today speak Persian/Farsi, a small cohort of elderly Jews still speak Judeo-Hamadani, Judeo-Isfahani, Judeo-Kashani, Judeo-Shirzai, Judeo-Yazdi, Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Some of these languages have little or no documentation, and are in danger of disappearing. The Jewish Language Project is addressing this issue in collaboration with the Endangered Language Alliance, Wikitongues, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, and the Y&S Nazarian Iranian Young [...]
Leonard Bernstein’s three children defended actor/director Bradley Cooper after he drew fresh criticism for wearing a large prosthetic nose in his portrayal of the American composer and conductor, who was Jewish, in the coming movie “Maestro.” When the makeup was first revealed last year, some questioned the decision by Cooper, who is not Jewish, to play Bernstein, who died in 1990. The debut of a teaser trailer prompted further discussion on social media about both [...]
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