e-Megillah, March 14, 2024

Thursday, March 14, 2024
Issue #659

Letter from Rabbi Ross

Dear TBS Friends and Family,

This Saturday, 3/16, is our next Prayer Lab and as we gear up for Purim in a week, we will have a special text study of the book of Esther.

Sunday, 3/17, is our Purim Carnival, come join the fun, sing Purim songs and eat hamantaschen. Next Friday, 3/22 will be our Purim Shabbat!

Wear a funny hat, drink a lechaim and enjoy the Megillah reading!

Purim Carnival Schedule – 3/17
9:00 am: Student drop off, havdalah
9:30-10:30: Student classes, volunteers need to set up Purim Carnival
10:30-11:00: Purim Songs and Tefillah with Deb Rogers
11:00-12:00: Carnival and Hamantaschen
12:00-12:30: Clean up  

My weekend column for the Record-Courier is about my recent trip to Israel:

My Cup Overflows – with Joy and Tears
A few weeks ago, I was honored to join a “Delegation of Responsibility” tour of Israel. Our delegation was composed of 30 North American Jewish educators sponsored by the Jewish Education Project in New York. During our 9-day visit, we would bear witness to the pain and tragedy, and we would attempt to understand the wide-ranging traumas of the October 7 Israel-Hamas War. Since my return, I have described the impact of the Israel visit with the verse from Psalm 23, “kosi revaya – my cup overflows.” I tell folks I am holding two cups: one filled with joy of new experiences, new learning, new friends, and a second cup overflowing with tears.
We heard from Israelis and Palestinians living in Israel. We heard from hostage families and from high school principals. We heard from evacuees and we heard from soldiers and from teenagers. We heard from coordinators of the massive volunteer efforts and we heard from parents about burying their dead children. We heard from protesters against the government and we heard from a Likud minister who wants to reshape the government the “day after.”
I am only just beginning to comprehend the depth of the stories and the power of the pain and the hope of people slowly trying to emerge from this horrific nightmare. These are a few of those moments.
On our first full day, we visited the sight of the Nova dance festival, where 364 Israelis were brutally raped, beaten, and murdered by Hamas in their surprise attack. This was the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. The location of the festival in Re’im is about a kilometer from the edge of the Gaza Strip. The grieving families have planted large pictures of their loved ones on long posts, as a type of grove. Each family personalized their loved ones’ location with personal mementos. We saw the images of lives cut down too soon, and we saw the envisioned future frozen on the faces of each poster. As we walked through this grove of death, we heard loud IDF artillery shells exploding in Gaza about every 30 or 45 seconds. The booms were felt in our chests. We knew the artillery shelling was keeping us safe and each explosion represented more damage and more death in Gaza.
We spoke with amazing school principals who needed to come together and hold their students and faculty in the aftermath of October 7. Some built new schools for their evacuated community many miles away. Some, like Ofakim, were not evacuated, and were forced to recover without government assistance. The teens of Ofakim are slowly learning to tell their stories of the start of the war. There was hope in their eyes as they shared their narratives of family members who were murdered.
We met with Mohammed Darawshe, the Director of Strategy at the Givat Haviva Center for Shared Society. Mohammed is a Palestinian Arab educator living in Israel. He was born in Jaffa. Mohammed’s cousin, Awad Darawshe, was an ambulance driver trying to rescue people at the Nova dance festival. Awad spoke Arabic, and thought that would help him survive that morning. He was killed and his ambulance was stolen and taken to Gaza by Hamas. Mohammed also had family in Gaza who were killed by IDF shelling. Mohammed described how he holds the trauma of his nephew and those he was helping alongside the trauma of his family members. And in between these two traumas, he continues his life’s work, building bilingual schools in Israel, teaching Hebrew to Palestinians and Arabic to Israelis. His contention as an educator is that once we establish relationships with the other, the other can no longer become marginalized, rather they are humanized, people created in the image of the divine.
We were inspired by the work of Achim Leneshek, Brothers and Sisters in Arms – a group of high tech entrepreneurs who had spearheaded the Israeli democratic protest movement for 10 months before the war broke out. On October 7, the protests ended, and the organizers used their community organizing tools and lists to create volunteer networks to supply Israel in the midst of the surprise attack.
We heard the desperate pleas from hostage families as they demanded the release of their loved ones, held captive in Hamas tunnels for more than 5 months. Each day is an agony for them.
On Saturday evenings, the hostage families gather in front of the building where the war cabinet meets to demand a hostage release. When we were there, after the initial hostage rally, a second protest demanding new elections was convened nearby. These protests are drawing huge crowds. The passion and the cathartic outlet of anger seems like a weekly ritual that allows the society to function in a somewhat normal, albeit a deeply wounded manner.
Our cohort of educators has returned, and we are beginning to teach about our experiences, the stories we heard, the pain we witnessed. So much pain, so much trauma.
Kosi revaya – my cup overflows.

Judaism 101 – 12 Sunday afternoons (3/3-5/12 at 4:00 pm)
Have you ever wanted to learn more about Judaism from an adult perspective?
Are you considering conversion to Judaism?
If so, this class can form a great foundation to get you started. We will focus on Jewish history, holidays, ideas and traditions.
There will be a few paperback books as part of the class as well.

• Class fees – $10 for TBS members or $56 for the entire course, $18 per class non-members or $154 for the entire course. College students can pay a donation. (Fees for the class will go to pay our zoom manager/teaching assistant.)
• RSVPS are needed in advance. Please email rabbimichaelross to RSVP or get more info and syllabus. 

Donations to support Israel can be made at Cleveland Federation:

  ISRAEL EMERGENCY CAMPAIGN  

Hold the Date (1) UPDATE!
Temple Beth Shalom
PURIM SHABBAT SERVICE & PARTY
FRIDAY, March 22 at 7:30 PM
Join Rabbi Ross, Song Leader Chuck Fink and fellow temple
members and friends as we celebrate Purim with a lively service,
food & drink & fun.
Come in costume or a silly hat and share in this festive holiday!

Hold the Date (2)
Temple Beth Shalom
FAMILY PASSOVER SEDER
FRIDAY, April 26, 2024
Doors open at 4:30 pm. Seder begins promptly at 5:30 pm

Join Rabbi Ross, Song Leader Chuck Fink and fellow TBS members and friends as we celebrate Passover with a family friendly service and delicious Passover Seder dinner on the 5th night of Passover, Friday night, April 26.

The service will begin promptly at 5:30 pm followed by a family style dinner catered by Mr. Brisket, back by popular demand. Dinner will include traditional Passover foods, accompaniments & dessert. A vegetarian option is available.

An invitation and response form will be mailed to all congregants. Friends of TBS may RSVP email to Laurie Frankino to hold your reservation lfrankino@gmail.com.
Confirmation of your reservation + payment options will be e-mailed back to you immediately.

Welcome Rabbi Emeritus Sheldon Ezring
Attending TBS Purim Shabbat March 22 at 7:30 pm

Rabbi Sheldon Ezring, who retired from TBS as Rabbi Emeritus, and is living in Florida, plans to attend our Purim Service and Party on Friday, March 22. He is looking forward to visiting with his old friends from TBS. Please plan to attend.
Rabbi Ezring will be in Hudson to officiate with Rabbi Ross the 50^th Anniversary Vow Renewal Ceremony of his dear friends and TBS congregants Dan & Bonnie Roll on Saturday morning, March 23 in the sanctuary at TBS.
Dan and Bonnie, Mazel Tov on your milestone anniversary!

TBSBrotherhood meetings/events 
• Brotherhood Membership
Membership dues are $36 (double chai) and this year we are adding a sustaining membership level $54 (triple chai). Make checks payable to TBS Brotherhood and mail to 50 Division St., Hudson, 44236 or bring to the next meeting. Please contact treasurer Art Busch, ascyb34@yahoo.com with any questions. Your financial support is much appreciated.
The Brotherhood performs much needed projects for TBS. Even if you cannot participate in Brotherhood, PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION. This will help to complete the many projects planned for 2023-2024 for TBS.

We meet throughout the year in the spirit of friendship and good humor. We sponsor social events, fundraisers and building beautification projects to support and enhance the TBS community. Contact: Mike Miller at mikemillercsi@roadrunner.com

TBS Sisterhood meetings/events 
Thank you to all the sisters who participated in the hamantaschen bake last Saturday.  We made over 300 hamantaschen for Temple events.

Recent dinner out. The next one is being planned.

• In preparation for the NATURE themed Sisterhood Shabbat we’ll have a docent-led tour at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday May 5th 1:20 pm on “Seeing Nature through the Eyes of the Artist” after which you will be treated to, coffee/tea/dessert and a short presentation of jewish writings about Nature. And it is time to send in any photos you would like to share for the service booklet to jeanrhodes16th@gmail.com.  Here is a lovely photo submitted by Toby Liberman. 

• We will also go on a HIKE in the CVNP led by Marcy Caplin and Beth Madis (date/time to be determined).

• Join the Sisterhood and SUPPORT US with a dues donation. Please email me, Robin Rosen-Sharp (rrsdvm2@gmail.com) if you need a membership form and would like to mail your payment. Otherwise you can use this PayPal link:   TBS PAYPAL LINK   

Please Do Not pay along with your Temple dues as Jonathon has asked us not to do this any longer.

Temple Beth Shalom Website Notes

Past e-Megillahs can be found on Media/e-Megillah Newsletters page:
  E-MEGILLAH NEWSLETTERS   
You will need to use the password TBSHudsonYou can view upcoming services and events on the Calendar page:
  CALENDAR PAGE  

We are looking for volunteers for many other important tasks, big and small, to help our Temple.
Please email James Field at jdfield23@aol.com if you would like to be a TBS Super Supporter. Some ways to volunteer include:
• Backup to our Email czar Harry Berman (Harry will show you the ropes)
• Coordinator with the Cleveland Jewish Federation for security support
• Setup/takedown of furniture and refreshments for Prayer Lab, Judaism 101 or other regular Temple activities
• Sponsoring an Oneg
• Coordinating Zoom for services (we do hire a professional for major holiday observances)
• Many other activities to match your interests, abilities and availability

Please send us your announcements, engagements, weddings, graduations, sports news, kid news, etc. to: e-megillah editor, hberman44236@yahoo.com no later than ONE WEEK PRIOR to the next issue. Please include ‘e-megillah news‘ in the subject field.

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•  Y A H R Z E I T S  •