Our own Rabbi Gadi and shul member Irma Strimban make the “Jews in the News” column in this month’s Shofar. Prior to the Rosh Hashanah observances at our shul,  Rabbi Gadi visited San Simeon by the Sound rehabilitation facility in Greenport and talked to the patients there about the holiday and the significance of the shofar, the ram’s horn that for many Jews is the most visible symbol of the Rosh Hashanah rituals. In ancient times, a blast from the shofar was a call to attention — an announcement of some importance. In the synagogue, the sound of the shofar reaches deep into one’s soul and recalls the greater than 5700-year history of the Jewish people. Our shul’s newsletter, aptly titled The Shofar, calls readers’ attention to newsworthy notes about our shul as well as items of global interest.                                                                                     San Simeon photo

A short play by our own shul member Chuck Simon has been selected among hundreds of submissions for inclusion in the third annual Soop to Nuts “Short Play Festival,” a series of 10-minute plays, to be presented  over two weekends by the Soop Theatre Company, from Nov. 4 through 19, at The 530 Studios, 530 5th Ave., Pelham, NY.

Chuck Simon’s play, “A Very Important Roll,” will debut on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m., with a repeat performance on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m.

Six of the plays will be chosen by audience vote for performances on the final round, Saturday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m., when the contenders will be judged by a panel of professional writers, directors, actors and producers for a chance to win one of three cash prizes.

Chuck Simon is the author of Talmud Night, a novel, and also Building a Successful Volunteer Culture, a step-by-step guide to cultivating volunteers who thrive within the Jewish community, among other writings.

To reserve tickets to The Soop (Seat of our Pants) Theater Company’s “Short Play Festival,” at $15 each, call 914-738-0514 or visit sooptheatre.org/.

The Shofar joins the shul membership in extending a wholehearted mazel tov to the Joshua Rakhman family — especially baby Ava Rakhman, whose Hebrew name, Chava, was bestowed by Rabbi Gadi at the Hoshana Rabba service in the sanctuary of our shul on Sunday, Oct. 16. The Rakhman family and friends filled the sanctuary for the occasion, which was attended by many shul members as well.

Shul members will recognize Josh, who for the last two years has served the shul as security guard during High Holiday services. He honored us by celebrating this mitzvah at our shul.

Pictured, back row, from left, Antonia Rakhman, Ava’s mother; Rabbi Gadi; and Ava held by her dad, Josh. In front, Stella Arlette, a niece, joined the group for a family photo.

Adrianne Greenberg photo

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022 to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, and Philip Dybvig for significantly improving our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises.

            Bernanke is a American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Fed, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. During his tenure as chairman, Bernanke oversaw the Federal Reserve‘s response to the late-2000s financial crisis, for which he was named the 2009 Time Person of the Year.

Before becoming Federal Reserve chairman, Bernanke was a tenured professor at Princeton University and chaired the department of economics there from 1996 to September 2002, when he went on public service leave.

Harrison Bader, centerfielder for the New York Yankees had a large part in the defeat the New York Yankees handed to the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series.

On August 2, 2022, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Bader and a player to be named later to the Yankees for pitcher Jordan Montgomery. On Sept. 20, Bader had his first New York Yankees hit, driving in a run. But then, in Game 1 of the division series, Bader hit his first New York Yankees homer, and also hit three home runs in the first four games of the series, joining Bernie Williams and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankee centerfielders with three homers in a single postseason. In July, Bader is committed to play for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami.

Harrison Bader is Jewish on his father’s side.

[Sadly, the New York Yankees lost the American Championship Series to the Houston Astros.]

Nir Bar Dea has been tapped as Bridgewater’s new co-CEO, one of two leaders of the world’s largest hedge fund, which manages $150 billion in assets.  He entered finance in 2015, starting at Bridgewater as a management associate, where he made his mark merging the research, portfolio construction, and trading departments into a single investment engine, which he ran beginning in 2019.

In February 2021, he was promoted to deputy CEO. In 2020, he was named in Fortune’s “40 Under 40 in Finance,” owing to his quick response to the coronavirus pandemic, when he relocated the firm’s investment engine office outdoors so that employees could work safely without losing the proximity of an in-person office.

Legendary basketball player Sue Bird bid farewell to the sport on Sept. 6 when her Seattle Storm lost to the Las Vegas Aces, who advanced to the WNBA Finals.

Bird, 41, announced in June that this season would be her last. In her final game, she finished with 8 points and 8 assists. Bird , the No.1 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA draft, is the league’s all-time assists leader and a 13-time All-Star.

She player her entire career with the Storm, where she has won four championships along with five selections to the All-WNBA first team and a record 12 All-Star Game appearances. She has also won a record-tying five Olympic basketball golds with Team USA, and was on four World Cup-winning teams.

“Not a lot of people do something for their entire lives the way that athletes do,” she said, pointing out it was the end of a sporting life that began when she was 5 or 6 years old. She looks forward to retirement, she said, noting “I get to start this new life.”