Share your synagogue with your friends
who are not yet members.
- the annual Swim Party and BBQ at the JCC on Sunday, August 17,
sponsored by Brotherhood
and WOTE,
- the next fabulous Rock Shabbat on Friday, August 22, and
- a “getting to know us” brunch
on Sunday, August 24 at 10:00 AM.
Call the administrative
office for more information…and bring a friend!
UPDATE FOR JUNE 26, 2008
In this Update:
- Upcoming Services
-
In the community
-
Torah Portion
Friday, June 27: 6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service, led by Jonathan
Hirshon and Becca Bronstein
Saturday, June 28: Shabbat Morning Minyan,
Leaders:
Bob & Maggie Cant
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Temple Auxiliaries…
WOTE
Thursday, July 17 - Dinner and a Meeting
Friday, August 1 – WOTE Shabbat on the Patio
Saturday, August 9 – COMEDY SPORTZ NIGHT – what a blast!
Thursday, August 14 – Dinner and a Meeting (in the Kottage)
Let Rita or Anita know if you want to help with the Yom
Kippur Break-the-Fast
WOTE & BROTHERHOOD
Sunday, August 17 –
TEMPLE SUMMER BBQ
swimming,
water slide, and BBQ with friends
at
the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center
on
Oka Road
in Los Gatos
from 11-3pm
Sponsored
by Brotherhood and Sisterhood
Brotherhood
will BBQ again
We
provide the main course, chips, drinks and paper goods.
You
bring a side dish or dessert to share.
RSVP
to Bernice Gaon at 269-0131. Need RSVP to ensure enough food.
$5
per person or $20 per family
Pay
at pool or send check to temple.
BROTHERHOOD
Watch for exciting upcoming Diaspora Dinner dates…
IN THE COMMUNITY…
Silicon
Valley Duck Race: LAST
SUNDAY!! June 22nd
Thanks to those of you who bought one or
more ducks… You support the Jewish Family Service mission and Temple at the same time…We earned $768 from
this worthwhile community project.
JCC SUMMER
COURSE LIST
For
more information:
Rabbi Joshua Fenton, Director of the Center for Jewish Life & Learning, rabbifenton@svjcc.org
or 408.357.7413
1. Creating a Jewish Home Crash
Course
In just 6 weeks we will
investigate what Jewish living is and what it means to build a Jewish
home. Topics will include Shabbat, Keeping Kosher, Family, Charity,
Jewish Holidays, and the Synagogue.
Mondays 12:30-2:00: June 30-August
4
$45 members; $55
non-members
No Hebrew Required
2. What is a
Good Life?
Drop in and learn a little
with Rabbi Fenton. In this informal study session we focus on the question,
“What is ethical living?” as we investigate what classical Jewish texts
have to say on the topic.
Wednesdays 11:00-12:15
Ongoing. Free. No Hebrew
Required.
3. Silicon
Valley Beit Midrash
The APJCC and participating
local Synagogues are excited to announce the opening of the Silicon Valley Beit
Midrash. Join local Rabbis on Thursday mornings in study and discussion.
9:00-10:00
Introduction to Jewish Thought Through Text
10:15-11:45 Advanced
Talmud Study
Location: Congregation
Sinai of Willow
Glen
Ongoing. Free.
4. Hebrew
Reading Crash Course Part II
Take your Hebrew reading
skills to the next level with this course that promises further instruction in Hebrew
reading with an added focus on comprehension. This course begins where
Crash Course 1 leaves off.
Tuesdays 12:30-2:00 May 20-July 1
$60 members; $75
non-members
Instructor: Rabbi Simcha
Green
5. Summer Hebrew
Intensive
Have you always wanted to
spend some time and focus on improving your Hebrew
skills? Join the APJCC Summer Hebrew Intensive. This 12 course
program lasting 6 weeks will focus on practical Hebrew skills: conversation,
strengthening reading and comprehension, and expanding vocabulary.
Some Hebrew
required/Graduates of the Crash Course are welcome
Tuesdays and Thursdays
7:30-9:00 pm June 24-August 7
$110 members; $125
non-members
Instructor: Sheryl Wit
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Refuah
Shleymah – we pray for the following congregants – that they will be returned
to good health in short order so they can resume a full life with their loved
ones.
- Arthur Cagan
- Judith Siegel
- Eva Stanley
- Joelle Wolf
Did you
know that some of our own Temple Emanu-El youth attend the URJ Kutz Camp in
upstate New York?
This experience
solidifies their relationship with their People, with their Religion, with
their Jewish peers from all over the United States and helps them find
out who they, themselves, are…
What do the
Fox, Gaon, and Matzner families know?
They know that a session at a Jewish camp in summer goes a long way to
creating a lifelong bond between a young person and his or her Judaism… Support
a Temple camp
scholarship fund today and throughout the year.
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URJ Kutz Camp - NFTY National
Leadership Center
Are you trying to improve your
Temple Youth Group or are you an aspiring song leader?
Have you thought about running for regional board? Maybe you're thirsty for
Jewish knowledge, are an aspiring Jewish artist, musician, dancer, or actor?
Are you seeking to change the world through acts of Tikkun
Olam?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then join our NFTY summer
community at the URJ Kutz Camp - NFTY National Leadership Center and learn to
lead!
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Everyone
has the right to be...
SAFE AT HOME
It's Jewish Heritage Night at the ballpark
again--come schmooze with us!
Monday August 25, 2008
Join us for the pre-game dinner...
5pm - Dinner at Gordon Biersch. Includes 3 hours of free
parking.
Co-hosted with the Jewish Community Federation of San
Francisco , the Peninsula, Marin, & Sonoma Counties
Or meet up with us at the game...
7:15pm - SF Giants vs. Colorado Rockies
Includes view section seat, "Go Giants" custom Jewish Heritage Night
scarf, and a "Safe at Home" Shalom Bayit tote bag
Join our fabulous contingent at the game AND support everyone's right to be
SAFE AT HOME!
Tickets: $45 ~ Dinner & Game discount package;
$20 ~ Game only; $30 ~ Dinner only
Don't miss this fabulous
and fun community event!
Order tickets now- space is limited. Reserve
by July 25th at (510) 451-8874 or info@shalom-bayit.org
Shalom
Bayit
Ending Domestic
Violence in Jewish Homes
````````````````````````````````````````
Jewish
Studies Program at San José
State University
Victoria G. Harrison,
Program Coordinator
victoria.harrison@sjsu.edu
~~ 408-924-5547
Fall Semester 2008 Offers
Exciting Jewish Studies Classes
at San José State
University
The fall
semester at San Jose
State University
will bring to the university and the community an array of fascinating courses
in Jewish history, culture, and current events. Courses begin August 25th:
·
Never one to shirk controversy, David Meir-Levi
will keep his students thinking at their intellectual best in his new course,
“Palestine, Lebanon, Israel -- the Conflict: 100 years in Historical Perspective.”
·
Travel the desert paths of the Ancient Near East
with Jonathan Roth, a History professor whose knowledge is seemingly endless
and who loves a great argument.
·
Dry, witty, and very smart, art history
professor Marilyn Wyman will teach a new gem of a course, Jewish Art from
antiquity to the present
·
Professor Mira Amiras will teach one of her—and
her students’—favorites, Jewish Mysticism, Magic & Folklore
·
Brent Walters brings to his Bible course his
enormous knowledge and fast wit, as well as items from his 85,000 piece private
collection of ancient Judeo/Christian writings and artifacts; his introductory
Bible History and Literature course is a full-course feast
·
Rina Katzen will teach all levels of Hebrew, as
she has at SJSU for 36 years!
·
Two freshman seminars will be offered on Jewish
studies topics: Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (Prof. Victoria Harrison)
and The Bible: Its Original Meaning (Prof. Brent Walters).
To learn more
about these classes (including dates and times), and about the Jewish Studies
program at San José
State, please contact
program coordinator Vicki Harrison at victoria.harrison@sjsu.edu; 924-5547. All
information is on the SJSU Jewish Studies website at www.sjsu.edu/depts/jwss).
````````````````````````````````````````
Torah Portion of the Week Parshat Korach
(Numbers 16:1 – 18:32)
By Justin Felder from www.urj.org
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“Now Korach, son of
Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram
sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben—to rise up against
Moses, together with two 250 Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen
in the assembly, men of repute. They combined against Moses and Aaron and
said to them, ‘You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of
them, and the Eternal is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves
above the Eternal’s congregation ?”
--Numbers 16:1 – 16:3
“ …the ground under
them burst asunder, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with
their households, all Korach’s people and all their possessions. They went
down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over
them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. All Israel around
them fled at their shrieks, for they said, ‘The earth might swallow us!’ And
a fire went forth from the Eternal and consumed the 250 men offering the
incense.”
Numbers 16:31 – 16:35
Why did Korach and his
followers receive such a harsh punishment when they confronted Moses?
Exploration of Topic
God has a relatively long fuse. If you enslave the chosen people, God will
give you nine chances before really losing it. Live a life of debauchery and
sin? God will send someone to ask you to change your ways. Deny a mission
from God? God will give you another chance, and with enough apologizing, the
whale will spit you back up. Why, then, in Parshat Korach does God
display such a short temper?
The portion begins: Now
Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself to rise up against
Moses, together with 250 Israelites . They weren’t exactly pleased with
Moses’ leadership, so they took their complaint right to the top. Korach
exclaimed to Moses: You have gone too far! For all the community are holy,
all of them, and the Eternal is in their midst. Why then do you raise
yourselves above the Eternal's congregation. God wasn’t pleased, and
Korach and his followers were swallowed up into the ground.
Why? Arguably, Judaism
was started by a stance against authority when Abraham smashed his father’s
idols; so why should Korach face such wrath? The difference lies in intent.
The only goal that Korach has with his complaint is to make himself look
better at Moses’ expense. The rest of the portion leads you to believe that
Korach was trying to advance his, and his supporters, interests by usurping
Moses. He did not have a purpose in antagonizing Moses; it’s something your
grandmother might call kvetching : being negative for the sake of
being negative.
Given all this, it is easy to see why Korach was in the wrong, even greatly
in the wrong; but the question remains, why did God act with such a swift
hand?
I believe the answer is
that God was trying to make a point. Korach and his followers seemed to
forget all that Moses had done for them, even going so far as to refer to Egypt as a
“land of milk and honey.” It was clear that Korach was simply trying to
“bully” Moses and Aaron: pulling himself up by pushing them down. This shows
not only defiance, but arrogance and ingratitude. All of these faults piled
up led God to his action.
Related Questions :
How does this portion relate to our everyday lives?
Easy. Unfortunately, many people find that the best way to advance their own
interests is to try to bring down others. It’s sad that our politicians are
often much better at pointing out their opponent’s faults than explaining
their own positive qualities.
Does this portion
relate to leadership?
This portion relates to leadership, and how you go about being a leader.
Korach is clearly the antithesis of what would be called “Jewish” leadership,
within or outside NFTY. Elections amongst youth rarely see the mud-slinging
and negativity that seems to come with adulthood, but slander and talking
behind people’s backs is just as bad. Ultimately, attacking someone else just
for the sake of attacking them is about as bad as what Korach did.
Taking Action:
What Sort of Leader
are You?
Let the story of Korach inspire you to take some time to look at your own
leadership skills and style. Are there parts of you that are a little like
Korach? Are there parts of your leadership style that you’d like to change?
Take some time and think about it. And then figure out how you can make those
changes.
Torah Lishmah
Your place in cyberspace to explore the lessons further!
See what others think about this topic and tell others what you think at our
online discussion forum.
Was God too harsh, or did Korach deserve his punishment?
Justin Felder is from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida,
and is currently the NFTY Membership and Communications Vice President. He is
soon to be a second year student at the University of Florida,
studying telecommunications. Justin is an alumnus of both Camp Coleman
and Kutz Camp, and will be returning to Coleman as a counselor this summer.
He grew up at Temple Judea in West Palm Beach,
Florida, and was a member of Temple Israel’s youth group, TIWPTY in high
school.
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