Shul News & Notes
Plans Underway For Our Virtual Silent Auction. What Can You Donate?
Remember the fun we had last year at the opening party of the Virtual Silent Auction? What a blast! Bids were swarming faster than our busy bee coordinators could monitor and, in the end, every single item sold. Donors and bidders alike were happy, and the shul reaped the rewards of a successful fundraiser. And guess what: We’re doing it again!
Opening party is Sunday, May 16, at 5 p.m.
What items or services can you donate? How about Zoom lessons for music, arts and crafts, exercise classes? Maybe a sail on your boat, dinner at your home, works of art, wine, hotel points, airline miles. Here’s how to donate:
- Take a photo of the items and write brief descriptions of items and/or services.
- Email the photos, descriptions, value of each, and your contact information to the auctions chairs: Madelyn Rothman (madelyn765@aol.com) or Tom Byrne (drtombyrne@me.com)
Email Donations no later than Sunday, May 9.
- Information on how to bid is coming soon. Watch your email inbox.
- Need help? Call Madelyn at 631-559-2816 or email madelyn765@aol.com/.
Shul’s Gift Shop Restocks Wine Cups, Mezuzahs For Gift-Giving
A sure sign of readying our shul for an eventual reopening is the recent restocking of the Gift Shop. A quick look by the “proprietor” revealed a few insufficiencies in the merchandise offerings, most noticeably among the Kiddish/wine cups. Only one left. Yikes! Five new designs will appeal to all likes and table décor. Purchased at the same time, a few new mezuzahs — always popular items for gift giving.
As you can see from the photo, the wine cups are elegantly rendered, mostly in easy-care pewter (smooth or hammered) in various heights and weights, plus one beauty in silverplate. All are affordably priced. Two of the mezuzas are brass, and two are enameled with gemstone insets.
The Gift Shop carries useful items for all Jewish holidays, plus a variety of gifts, including jewelry, books, picture frames, hamsas, serving platters, yarmulkas, Torah pointers (yads), mezuzahs in various sizes and designs, including for baby and children’s rooms, mezuzah scrolls, holiday and Havdallah candles, candlesticks and memorial candle holders. Special orders accepted.
For information and purchases, call the shul and leave a message for Sara Bloom. Prompt replies promised. SMBloom photo
In Book Circle Selection, Architect Foils Nazis With Ingenious Shelters
The next meeting of the Book Circle will be held on Wednesday, May 19, at 1 p.m., on the synagogue’s Zoom. The May selection is The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure.
In this book, a gifted architect begins a secret life of resistance by devising ingenious hiding places for Jews in WWII Paris — spaces so invisible that even the most determined German officers won’t find them.
What started as a place for one Jewish man escalated into hiding more souls and saving more lives as WWII rages on. He does it first for the money, but then for the opportunity to outwit the Nazis, who have occupied his beloved city. Alas, all does not go smoothly.
For more information about the selection and the Book Circle group, call the shul at 631-477-0232, and leave a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.
Oculus: Eye On Art
This month’s Oculus column features two acrylics on paper, each 9.5 x 13.75, by Hedy Campeas, a member of the shul’s Judaism and Art group. As the artist explained, “Last autumn, Graham and I drove through a mighty nor’easter for his doctor appointment. Due to the pandemic, I waited alone in the car, and watched in awe as gale winds washed twisted streams of water over the windshield.
Figures of people fragmented as they struggled from car to office. Trees split into blobs of green and gray. The words of the brief seasonal prayer from the Amidah floated into my mind. ‘He makes the winds blow and the rains descend.’ From time immemorial, the people of Israel have depended on winter rains and summer dew for survival. The power of these words inspired these two paintings.”
‘Lunch and Learn’ Wants You
Lunch and Learn is breathlessly trying to keep up with the talents, services, interests, hobbies, ideas, exploits, adventures and passions of our members — and even our members’ children. Our shul’s Lunch and Learn program debuted on Zoom, at noon, on Monday, April 20, 2020, when Ron Rothman talked to us about his grandfather’s friendship with Albert Einstein. We haven’t missed a Monday since. Whew!
But we may have missed some of the talents, services, interests, hobbies, ideas, exploits, adventures and passions of our members. So, we’re asking all of you with talents, services, interests, ideas, exploits, adventures and passions to please get in touch with Sara Bloom, the Sol Hurok of our shul’s Lunch and Learn program so that your talents, services, interests, ideas, exploits, adventures and passions can be shared with our Lunch and Learn audience.
Also, it has been suggested that we do a Lunch and Learn on this topic: second careers, second acts. Have you retired from your “day job” and moved on to something new? Maybe a new job, a new hobby, back to school, something that brings you joy. Lunch and Learn would like to hear from you.
Please respond to Sara Bloom: sbblazer@hotmail.com.
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