Shul News & Notes2019-05-06T11:02:37-04:00

Shul News & Notes

Journal Committee Names Greenberg/Gabriel Honorees Of The Year

June 5th, 2025|

The 2025 Journal Committee is proud to name Adrianne Greenberg and Miriam Gabriel as this year’s Journal honorees. Both women have served our shul with distinction for more than 20 years, contributing in many capacities — from leadership roles to committee members.

Before her election as president of the shul for three consecutive terms, Adrianne held many offices on the Board of Directors over a period of 20 years, including Recording Secretary and Vice President. Currently, she is president of the shul’s Sisterhood, a member of the Ritual Committee, and chair of the Building and Grounds Committee, responsible for the maintenance of the shul and parsonage buildings, the surrounding properties, and Andrew Levin Park adjacent to the synagogue building.

Miriam has served 10 years on the Board of Directors as Recording Secretary and a Member-at-Large. Currently, she is in her 16th year as co-editor of The Shofar, the shul’s award-winning monthly newsletter, and is also a member of the pastoral committee. For many years, Miriam managed the distribution of yahrzeit candles for the shul’s entire membership.

Please join us in celebrating these notable women with your ad of congratulations in the 2025 Journal. Attached to this document is the ad insertion form. Please follow the instructions for submitting your ad copy and payment.

Suffolk County Legislator Taps Rabbi Gadi For Distinctive Person Award

June 5th, 2025|

Rabbi Gadi was one of 18 Jews honored in a ceremony held on May 7 at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. The event capped the Suffolk County Legislature’s annual observance of Jewish American Heritage Month. Each County District leader was invited to select one honoree of distinction. Legislator Catherine Stark of District 1 selected Rabbi Gadi for his leadership at our shul and his interfaith work with Project Genesis and the GEM (Greenport Ecumenical Ministries) organization of Greenport clergy.

The event, presided over by County Executive Edward P. Romaine, and planned by the Legislature’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Suffolk County Jewish Advisory Board, included acknowledgments to Jewish Americans who have contributed to this country in academia, entertainment, and community service, prayers for Israel and the Israelis still held hostage in Gaza, citations for all of the honorees, entertainment, and a lavish buffet dinner featuring Jewish cuisine.

The Rabbi told The Shofar that interfaith education helps to foster peaceful relations here and in Israel He said he was honored to have been selected by Legislator Stark.

SMBloom photo

Fifty Participants Joined CTI And NFRS In Yom HaShoah Observance

June 5th, 2025|

In a Yom HaShoah program held on the evening of April 23, a sizeable crowd of 50 people from our shul and the North Fork Reform Synagogue paid tribute and honor to the Six Million lost in the Holocaust. Rabbi Gadi Capela of our shul, and Rabbi Barbara Sheryll of the North Fork Reform Synagogue led the gathering in a moving program of prayers and remembrances.

Rena Wiseman, one of our shul members and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, spoke movingly about her parents and how her father had escaped death numerous times to help others survive the harsh conditions behind the Nazi concentration camp enclosures.

At the conclusion of the program, the rabbis invited all to light their yellow candles, just as Jews throughout the world had done throughout the day.

At Peconic Landing, the senior continuing care community in Greenport, shul member and Peconic Landing resident Judith K. Weiner arranged for a Yom HaShoah program that afternoon. She introduced the meaning behind the Yellow Candle Program observed on Yom HaShoah, lighted six candles, one for each of the Six Million Jews murdered, and asked Rena Wiseman to tell her story about growing up as the daughter of Holocaust survivors.

The Greenport High School Program

            The candles were distributed free of charge, but many elected to make a charitable donation for the gift. Those donations paid for the bus to transport the 10th-grade world history class at Greenport High School to the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove — the culmination of the students’ unit of study on the Holocaust.

On Friday, May 2, members of the class attended a Zoom Shabbat service at our shul to talk to congregants about what they had seen and what they had learned. Some of the students were unaware of the Holocaust before the unit, others had attended the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Each of the students talked about what hate can bring about, and how the experience of meeting a survivor of the camps at the museum had touched them and made them more aware that antisemitism is still prevalent against Jews, just as other groups, too, are targets of hate.

Local newspaper coverage

The shul thanks the Suffolk Times newspaper and its reporter, Amanda Olsen, for coverage of the Yellow Candle Project and the connection to the Greenport High School history department’s focus on the Holocaust. The reporter interviewed shul members Judith K. Weiner, co-chair with Rena Wiseman of the event at Peconic Landing; Chuck Simon, who had created the Yellow Candle Project many years ago through synagogue Men’s Clubs and who introduced the program to CTI and to the NFRS; and Sara Bloom, president of our shul. The writer included quotes from the students who attended the Shabbat service at Congregation Tifereth Israel: Isabella Sarabia, Stella Squire; Devin Stanton and Noelle Stevenson. Also attending the service were Brian Toussaint, the students’ teacher, school principal Gary Kalish, and Elizabeth Doyle, the superintendent of schools.

The photo that accompanied the article showed a cohort of 77 10th graders about to board the bus for the museum and what, for some, was perhaps a life-changing experience.

 

Tikkun Olam Purchases Bilingual Books For CAST Literacy Program

June 5th, 2025|

To help the children of CAST families gain the skills necessary for success when starting kindergarten, the shul’s Tikkun Olam Initiative (TOI) group purchased 20 bilingual copies of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” for the 3-year old group, and 20 copies of “Rainbow Fish” for the 4-year-olds.

Each book is labeled inside, announcing (in Spanish and English) that the book was donated by Congregation Tifereth Israel.

“Helping these children gain the literacy skills that their English-speaking classmates already understand is a focus of CAST’s ParentChild+ program. “We are so proud of these youngsters, and proud that our group on behalf of our shul can contribute to this important learning,” said Veronica Kaliski, chair of the TOI.

Veggies for CAST clients

Madelyn Rothman, who monitors the plantings at Common Ground, told The Shofar that Tikkun Olam is trying some new efficiency methods in connection with the beds the group maintains at the community garden. The goal is to produce a greater harvest this year because of increased demand for the vegetables and herbs. Onions, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini and peppers are the most popular veggies.

The group is always open to more volunteers to help with the garden beds. Those interested can contact Veronica Kaliski by emailing ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Veronica.

Book Circle Considers ‘Generation Gap’ In Stories About Three Women

June 5th, 2025|

This month, the Book Circle will read and discuss The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad, winner of a National Jewish Book Award for Hebrew Fiction in Translation. The group will meet on Thursday, June 19, at 3 p.m., in the community room of the shul.

Three Israeli women, their lives altered by immigration to the United States seek to overcome crises in their lives. In three novellas, the celebrated Israeli writer Maya Arad probes the demise of idealism and the generation gap that her heroines must confront.

The Book Circle meets monthly to explore books by Jewish authors writing on topics of Jewish interest. For more information about the Book Circle and its current selection, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.

Author Reuven Fenton visits the Book Circle Group

Reuven Fenton, pictured right, author of the novel Goyhood, the Book Circle group’s May selection, visited the session to talk about the storyline and his inspiration for writing it.

The narrative conceives a devoutly Orthodox man, who discovers in middle age that he is not, in fact, Jewish. He is, however a Talmud scholar, married into one of the great rabbinical families in the world. The big question: Now what?

The sessions are held on Zoom and in person. Those attending in person display the book cover. Susan Rosenstreich, in blue, leads the group’s monthly meetings.

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