Ma Nishma

Sermonfest!

Lisa Tuttle — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:04:45 -0400

In a dynamic new feature on the JRF website, Reconstructionist rabbis from across our movement were invited to share their High Holiday sermons on a diverse array of topics. Excerpts of the talks are posted on the site along with links to read the entire sermon.

Experience Sermonfest! at http://jrf.org/sermonfest.

JRF North American Leadership Workshop on Congregational Growth, March 2, 2008 - Register Now!

Lisa Tuttle — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:18:28 -0500

“Congregational Growth: The Dynamics of Membership, Outreach and Financial Resources”
Sunday, March 2, 2008, 9 am to 4 pm, at Ezra Habonim – The Niles Township Jewish Congregation, Skokie, IL

Come learn how to use a congregational systems approach to understand the dynamics of congregational growth. Gain important skills and ideas about how to effectively reach out to attract new members, reach in to strengthen already-existing members and volunteers, and how to creatively grow the congregation's financial resources.

All JRF affiliates are invited to send representatives to this special one-day workshop! We strongly encourage you to come in teams of three or more to maximize the benefits.

Presenters: Barry Nove, JRF Director of Development and Rabbi Shawn Zevit, JRF Director of Outreach & External Affairs/Tikkun Olam.

Tuition: $72 per person includes breakfast, lunch and materials.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW and download the event flyer and registration form at www.jrf.org/north_american_leadership_workshop_skokie.[/b]

This workshop is part of JRF's North American Leadership Series. For information contact Shoshi Braman at jbraman@jrf.org or 215-885-5601, ext. 10.

Goals and Benefits

Learn how to use a congregational systems approach to understand the dynamics of congregational growth.
Discover how a congregation’s stage of development relates to issues of membership and financial resources.
Come away with important skills and ideas about how to effectively reach out to attract new members, reach in to strengthen existing members and volunteers, and to creatively grow the congregation's financial resources, qualitatively and quantitatively.
This workshop will benefit all those working on congregational growth and development, including board members, membership and development committees, treasurers, planned giving and capital campaign advocates, senior administrators, and education and program directors.

About the Presenters

Barry Nove, JRF’s Director of Development, who is becoming known as “Dr. Fundraiser” by Reconstructionist congregations/havurot from coast to coast, wants to help your congregation treat ailments of raising money by sharing approaches other communities are finding and have found successful. Barry serves as JRF’s fundraising consultant to affiliates; his fundraising expertise is wide ranging and includes planned giving and endowment.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit (RRC '98), JRF’s Director of Outreach & External Affairs/Tikkun Olam, has over 25 years experience in spiritual leadership. He has conducted leadership training and developed numerous resources on outreach and volunteer development for JRF and its congregational affiliates across the country. Shawn is well known for his work in the area of the “Torah of Money,” and is author of Offerings of the Heart: Values-Based Approaches to Money in Faith Community (Alban Inst). Since 2005 he has been the visiting rabbi for JRF affiliate Dor Hadash, Pittsburgh, PA.

Praying with Lior: Film Wrestles with Judaism, Disability

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:46:10 -0500

Lior with Rabbi Shawn ZevitAn engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, Praying with Lior, is debuting around the world and receiving rave reviews and was the highest grossing independent film its first weekend in New York.

The film tells the story of Lior Liebling, a member of congregation Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, whom his community calls "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his life praying with utter abandon. As Lior approaches bar mitzvah, the movie poses difficult questions such as What is disability? And who really talks to God?

Read the New York Times story about the film and
an interview with director Ilana Trachtman on the NY Jewish Film Festival blog.

Praying with Lior show times

New York/New Jersey Evening of Celebration on April 8: Save the Date & Publicize Widely!

Jill Janofsky — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:07:43 -0500

Start: Apr 8 2008 - 7:00pm

End: Apr 8 2008 - 11:00pm

This year, the New York-New Jersey Region of JRF is taking its annual Evening of Celebration to the stage.

We are planning a wonderful evening at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre where we'll be among the first groups to see South Pacific! The Evening of Celebration will honor "Those Who Bring Joy and Creativity to Our Congregations" in the NY/NJ Region.

Mazel Tov to our Honorees:

Richard Woodrow, Bet Am Shalom
Andy Kaplan & Singers, Congregation Beth Hatikvah
Marty Fogel & Dan Epstein, Bnai Keshet
Harriet Chomet, Kehillath Shalom
Ron Falcon, Reconstructionist Congregation Beth Emeth
Roz Altman, Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel
Lauren Pulver, Reconstructionist Synagogue of North Shore
Rabbi Joy Levitt, Society for the Advancement of Judaism
Julie Sandler-Friedman & David Friedman, West End Synagogue

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, April 8th, for it will be some enchanted evening!

NY/NJ Evening of Celebration: "Honoring Those Who Bring Joy and Creativity to our Congregations" in the NY/NJ Region.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Lincoln Center Theatre
Curtain 7:00 pm
Honoring & Dessert Reception to follow.

The Evening of Celebration supports and sustains the growth of the Reconstructionist movement and its congregations throughout North America.

Tickets are limited, so reserve yours now! For registration and details call the JRF NY/NJ office at 212-870-2483.

Movies and Mitzvot on Christmas: Temple Beth Hatfiloh’s Sing-Along is now Tradition

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:15:29 -0500

Ozi, the son of Rabbi Seth Goldstein, dressed as a zombie from the dream scene in Fiddler on the Roof at the 2004 sing-along. What are your shul’s Christmas-day traditions? For the past few years, the members of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington, have gathered for a fun-filled Christmas-day Jewish movie night. Their premiere event in 2004, which featured a showing of Fiddler on the Roof, included a sing-along, costume contest, and a potluck, as well as the now-traditional food and blanket drive benefitting the Olympia Food Bank and other local organizations that support the community.

This year’s film was West Side Story - the romantic Romeo and Juliet adaptation that depicts the inner city New York turf war between the Puerto Rican "Sharks" and the American "Jets." The screening was hosted Beth Hatfiloh’s partner, the Olympia Film Society, which holds special events and shows art house films in its home base at the Capitol Theatre, a local historical landmark located three blocks away from the synagogue, in downtown Olympia.

“It is still a sing-along, but now the only food is OFS’s theater concession stand,” said Temple Beth Hatfiloh’s rabbi, Seth Goldstein, interviewed in Washington's jtnews.net. “We still put the words up using subtitles and have costume contests and prizes. It’s very interactive and a fun way of connecting to the community.”

What makes West Side Story a Jewish movie? Well for starters, the four principals of the movie, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins were all Jewish and, according to the film’s official website, the authors originally intended Maria to be Jewish!

Have you visited JRF’s Planned Giving Website?

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:52:43 -0500

New donor stories are going up every month. Perhaps there’s one from your congregation. Make a difference for your community and/or the Reconstructionist movement. Go to http://www.jrfplannedgiving.org and click on Donor Stories. For further information contact Barry Nove, JRF director of development, at bnove@jrf.org
and 215-885-5601, x. 19.

Bet Am Shalom Takes Part in Backpack Project for Darfur

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:39:52 -0500

JWW Backpack ProjectCongregation Bet Am Shalom in Whiteplains, NY, joins the Westchester Darfur Coalition and Jewish World Watch (JWW) in providing and education for children fleeing genocide in Darfur. JWW's Backpack Project will enable children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad to attend schools run by the International Rescue Committee. Filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste (all obtained as locally as possible), the backpack allows each child to make the most of school under the most difficult of circumstances.

Backpacks are $36 each. Every dollar donated to the JWW Backpack Project will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, through the generousity of a local family foundation.

For for more information on Bet Am Shalom's Giving Program, e-mail Fran Heyman at franheyman@msn.com, and visit www.JewishWorldWatch.org

Bet Am Shalom's flyer and donation form are attached below.

Click here for a full listing of JRF's resources and response to the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Reconstructionists Named to "Forward 50"

Lisa Tuttle — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:35:16 -0500

Each year the staff of The Forward chooses 50 individuals who are “making a difference in the way American Jews view the world and themselves” and embody “the spirit of Jewish action as it is emerging in America.” The list for 2007 includes four Reconstructionists who are making their mark in the areas of community, spiritual leadership, and ideas and activism:

Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Ruth Messinger; Executive Director of the American Jewish World Service

Rabbi Toba Spitzer, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and rabbi at JRF affiliate Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts

June Walker, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Read their profiles from The Forward at jrf.org/Recon_forward_50.

Read the New Issue of Ma Nishma for December

Lisa Tuttle — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:19:58 -0500

The latest issue of Ma Nishma - News from JRF is out in its new format.

Read it online at jrf.org/manishma_dec.

Now everyone can subscribe to receive Ma Nishma as an e-Newsletter. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

You can also download Ma Nishma for December in MS Word.

In this issue:

JRF Calls on Congress to Support Peace Talks
Reconstructionists Named to the ‘Forward 50’
Register for Camp JRF!
Camp JRF Scholarships Available
JRF Planned Giving Website Debut
Hold a Shabbaton at Camp JRF
Israel Experience Registration Now Open
No’ar Hadash Teen Events
JRF's Sustainable Synagogue Initiative
Kol HaKavod!
Upcoming Events

Kehillat Israel's Grand Mortgage Payoff

Lisa Tuttle — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:01:53 -0400

Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA, celebrated the end of its mortgage with a special weekend of celebrations in early October.

Mazel tov!