Shul News & Notes
Announcements From The Feb. 20 Board/Congregation Meetings
- In Rabbi Gadi’s absence, members of the congregation have stepped up to lead Shabbat services. On Friday’s, Feb. 25, March 4 and March 11, members of the rabbi’s Hebrew class will lead services. Special note: these Erev Shabbat services will be on Zoom only. On Saturdays, Feb. 26, March 5 and March 12, Gabbai Paul Nadel will lead services with readings from the Torah by shul member Ari Paul. These services will be hybrid — Zoom and in person.
- Rabbi Gadi will return to the pulpit on Friday, March 18, at 6 p.m. to lead a Shushan Purim service prior to the regular Shabbat service at 7:30 p.m.
- All members and guests planning to attend services in the sanctuary and/or activities in the shul building must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, including a booster shot, by March 22. (We will also continue to offer services on Zoom.) Please email proof of your vaccination and booster to ctigreenport@gmail.com./ In establishing the new booster mandate, the shul has been guided by the recommendations of Dr. Lewis Teperman, our medical consultant.
- Volunteers are needed for a Packing Party to help assemble packages of yellow candles for mailing to each shul family. We will light these candles together in our homes in observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 27. Sisterhood and the Men’s Club are organizing the Packing Party, complete with refreshments for the helpers, to be held on Sunday, March 20, at 11 a.m. To volunteer, request additional candles for other family members or children away at school, or to get more information, email the shul at ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Adrianne Greenberg or Tom Byrne.
At Lunch and Learn on March 7: Public Speaking. Fear Not…
Why is public speaking so difficult? Dry mouth, sweaty palms, shaky voice, trembling hands, butterflies in the tummy — sometimes all at once — can affect the simple act of standing up at a meeting of acquaintances or colleagues to present a program or just voice an opinion.
Lunch and Learn to the rescue. With fun exercises, valuable feedback, and concrete strategies, shul member Debbie Epstein Henry will offer tips on how you can become an effective communicator. “Public speaking is the number one fear of up to 75% of the population,” she says. “It can interfere with the ability to project confidence, communicate, run a meeting, win someone’s trust, command a room or make a meaningful contribution.”
Debbie Epstein Henry heads DEH Consulting, Speaking, Writing, a firm known here and abroad for expertise on careers, workplace dynamics, women and law. She is the author of two best-selling books and has been featured by hundreds of news outlets, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, and The Wall Street Journal. She hosts the podcast “Inspiration Loves Company,” is president of The Forum of Executive Women, and is chair of Brooklyn Law School’s Women’s Leadership Network.
Zoom at noon on Monday, March 7. Fear not…and join Lunch and Learn on the first Monday of every month for programs that inspire and amaze.
Oculus: Eye On The Arts/A Communal Activity
This month’s Oculus column features a poem by Ann Hurwitz, a member of the shul’s Judaism and the Arts group. Ann’s work is a submission to the Shehecheyanu Curtain, currently mounted on the north wall in the shul’s community room. The curtain beckons contributions of painting, collage, fiber arts, poetry, narrative and other creative efforts from our members and their families to memorialize our experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Email the shul at ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Saul Rosenstreich requesting information on how you can contribute to the curtain.
“We were really tired. In fact, we are still tired. I wanted to stuff my masks into the back of the sock drawer and forget about them. But then, I began to see them discarded in so many places, and I began to think about later on — perhaps years from now — when they will show up in a museum or are made into quilts. We need to be thankful for what they have offered, for they truly have saved us.
As for me, I probably will continue to wear a mask for the unforeseeable future.
—Ann Hurwitz
Masks: An Ode
We were tired.
We thought it was over.
We tossed off the masks
and they drifted, unmoored,
by the side of the road
under the leaves,
on the highway patterned
by tires, in the spokes
of a bike, dropped in a
crosswalk, drowned
in a parking lot puddle
splattered with mud,
crushed under a chair leg
caught in a turnstile,
half-covered with sand
on the beach, on top
of a snowbank,
at the hospital exit,
left in a grocery store
cart, ditched on the tarmac,
floating on waves, hung
on the branch of a birch
or the spar of a boat,
almost wherever you
looked they were there,
including the ones, still
festooned on our doorknobs
or swinging from the car’s
rearview mirror,
all ignored and unworn.
Gather them up,
these versions of us;
flowers and stripes,
polka dots and plaids,
many were black or
hospital blue, photos
of mothers and dads,
children and pets,
one even said VOTE,
paper or cloth, cowboy
bandanas in red,
N95’s, made in Korea,
China or Texas, Chipotle’s
The Best, layered and folded
they covered our mouths,
went over our noses
and under our chins,
elastic taut behind ears,
home-made and crafted
from YouTube instructions,
these millions that saved us,
remember, recover
and treasure each one.
Tikkun Olam Initiative Is Thinking Spring Planting; Looking For Seedlings
The Tikkun Olam Initiative continues its outreach throughout the year. There may be residual mounds of snow still on the ground, but members of the TOI are looking ahead to the Common Ground garden and seedlings to be planted there. As we know from past seasons, the TOI mission to provide fresh veggies and herbs to CAST clients begins with winter seeds for spring planting. Those of us who start seeds inside can provide for our own families and, at the same time, help the TOI help CAST by starting some extra seeds.
Favorite seedlings include tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant but, as the TOI told The Shofar, “We will plant what we get.”
During February, the group provided spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, and cooking oil to CAST for hearty meals on cold winter nights.
For more information about the TOI and how you can help, email ctigreenport@gmail.com/.
‘Beyond Dispute’ Course To Begin Next Series on Sunday, March 27
The spring semester of the JTS “Beyond Dispute” course will debut on Sunday, March 27. All classes are held on Sundays, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Zoom. Congregants and friends not previously registered are invited to audit any session.
Part III: Disputing the Essence of Judaism
“This series fits nicely with the spring holiday of Passover,” says Rabbi Gadi Capela, facilitator of the “Beyond Dispute” course. “Each class relates to topics we should contemplate before the holiday that celebrates the birth of the Jewish people.”
- March 27: What Defines Our Relationship with God? A Tale of two Covenants
- April 3: Does the Torah Contain Everything We Need to Know? The Maimonidean Controversy
- April 10: Is Judaism a Religion of the Heart or the Mind? Hasidism and its Opponents
Part IV: Disputing the Jewish Future
This session will begin on the Sunday following the second Passover seder.
- April 24: How Much Should Tragedy Define Us? The Holocaust in Contemporary Jewish Life. (Five days before Yom HaShoah)
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- May 1: Can Commitment and Critique Coexist? Teaching Israel in the 21st Century. Israel Internal Relations/Part 1 (Four days before Yom Hazikaron and five days before Yom Ha’atzmaut)
- May 8: Can Commitment and Critique Coexist? Teaching Israel in the 21st Century. Israel External Relations/Part 2 (Four days after Yom Ha’atzmaut)
- May 15: What Do We Mean by Jewish Continuity? The Legacy of ‘Be Fruitful and Multiply.’ (Five days before Lag Ba’omer, which commemorates the end of a plague and the return to life.)
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