Dear TBS Friends & Family,
This Saturday morning, at 9:30 is our Torah Study to prepare for Rosh Hashanah! Bagels will be served. We will look at the Hagar, and Hannah stories together. WE will end by 11 to join Deb Rogers at the Hudson Farmers’ Market to meet folks on Community Day.
Then Saturday at 7 pm is our Taste of Teshuvah program. Wine and honey and cheese tastings. Desserts! Then we will do some spiritual journaling or coloring as we reflect on the year that was – the good and the bad. Around 9 pm, we will have our Selichot Service with the choir joining us!
NEWSPAPER COLUMN
Here’s my weekend column for the local papers: 9/11: A Tipping Point By Rabbi Michael Ross
Friday, September 11 marks both the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America and the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
On September 10, 2001, I was attending a family wedding in Arlington, VA, blocks from the Pentagon.
I was with my sister, mom, grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. At the time, I was the managing editor of production for the Oakland Tribune and its five sister newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A few years prior, in the late ‘90s, I had gone through a divorce and found spiritual healing and comfort as I reconnected to Jewish life in the Bay Area. I had begun taking adult classes in Torah, Jewish meditation, and had become a lay leader co-leading a Passover Seder with friends at Chochmat Halev, a Jewish meditation center in Berkeley. My joy of designing the Seder with my friends was similar to the joy I used to have in designing the front page of the newspaper.
The weekend before 9/11, I had attended a Selichot Service to offer up penitential prayers one week before Rosh Hashanah. I was planning to teach a brief session for my small chavurah, or Jewish prayer group, back in Berkeley for the new year festival and I was looking for inspiration for my session and for the new year.
On the Tuesday morning of 9/11, my family gathered at the hotel for breakfast. The televisions were blaring the news out of New York that the first tower had been hit and was in flames. A few minutes later, the second tower was hit as we watched the news. Then Flight 77 from Dulles crashed into the Pentagon. (My grandmother, aunt, and uncle were supposed to be on Flight 77. They had changed their travel plans a few days before.) The two towers collapsed a few minutes later.
We sat there in numb, sickened silence, knowing we had just missed being in that tragedy by the thinnest of margins. Knowing that we were near the Pentagon froze us in place. Air travel was closed down. There was no way to fly home to California. Our flights home were postponed
Stranded in Arlington, the next day, my sister and I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The mall seemed vacated. Military flights were making frequent trips over the mall. Our world had changed.
As we walked on the mall, one of my first thoughts was about how to hold my Jewish friends during this tragedy next week at Rosh Hashanah. How would we possibly respond to this trauma of being attacked?
I finally was able to fly out late the next day. Upon my return my boss, the executive editor, had demoted me for not immediately renting a car in D.C. and driving cross country for two days to handle the crisis at home. (I had confirmed that my capable assistants were taking care of everything.) And deep in my gut, I knew my 17-year journalism career had just ended.
I would find a local therapist for career counseling, and within a few months I decided to pivot from journalism to Jewish education. I would no longer witness the world from a distance, but I committed myself to being actively engaged in my life and to directly assist others in their lives. I would move from my head to my heart, seeking meaning and purpose in my life.
I enrolled in a master’s of Jewish Education at the University of Judaism, in Los Angeles, where I would meet my new bride. That led to rabbinical school in Philadelphia for six years as we married and set up our first home together.
The transition to Jewish studies opened me in unexpected ways. I found the life of meaning I was seeking, as I dedicated myself to building community, deepening Jewish learning, and exploring Jewish practices of prayer and meditation. My soul felt expanded, awakened, shining.
During rabbinic school, 5 years after 9/11, I trained to become a dialogue facilitator for Jewish and interfaith dialogue groups around Israel/Palestine. I have been doing that work for 20 years.
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I created a teen curriculum about “Standing Against Islamophobia” for Tru’ah – a national group focusing on Jewish ideas of social justice. Here in Hudson, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Rev. Peter Wiley joined with the spiritual leaders of Temple Beth Shalom and the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent to have a concerted interfaith response to 9/11 with one of service, compassion and healing. This Sunday, 9/13, will be the 15th annual “First Serve” day of interfaith service in North Hill, Akron.
For me, 9/11 was a tipping point that nudged me into a new career, a new spiritual calling, and opened my heart and soul to new depths and new learning. It inspired the second chance I knew that I needed. It inspired me to reconnect, to refocus and to reset.
25 years later, we have learned many lessons about dealing with fear and uncertainty. We have learned that we are vulnerable, our naivete was shattered. We have also learned that our political leaders use the language of fear and hate to motivate their base. We have learned that spiritually we need each other to survive chaotic times. Community can serve as our life rafts in the storms, holding us together for warmth, compassion and resilience.
Today, we might feel lonely, distant, and disconnected. How can we integrate those 9/11 lessons as we begin a new year?
Rosh Hashanah’s spiritual focus is about returning to our best selves. It’s about acknowledging our need and desire for sacred community and sacred connection during destabilizing times.
How can we hear the shofar blast and wake up to the call of our soul and the importance of our own lives? What are the second chances you need this year? Who do you need to apologize to for missteps, where you might have “missed the mark”?
On Rosh Hashanah, we repeatedly sing in our liturgy, “Return us God, and let us be returned. Renew our days as days of old.”
May we each find our way to our spiritual homes this year, and may we be renewed for a year of sweetness and a vision for the path forward.
• eSurvey is Here! Click here to complete our 5-minute survey to help guide us moving forward. We want to know what you think.
•Planning Meeting – The Social Action Committee will meet on Monday, October 5 at 5:00 pm in the TBS Boardroom. All are welcome. Please text or call Eric Draper, 216-630-6075, for more information and to be added to the Social Action communication.
•Tikkun Olam is committing to repairing the world one act at a time. Click here for more information.
Ongoing Campaigns@TBS
•Hudson Food Pantry
TBS has stepped up to fulfill a need of the Hudson Food Pantry. Your monthly donations of laundry detergent have been truly appreciated by our neighbors in need. Let’s keep up the momentum! We are asking for three TBS families to donate 2 large detergents — liquid, powder, or pods — each for a total of 6 per month. Families can sign up for a single month or multiple months. The detergents can be dropped off at TBS when open, i.e. Friday services, Saturday study sessions, Sunday school, etc. To sign-up to help go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FABAF2EA3FE3-61572875-tikkun or scan the QR code:
The pantry has also made a special request for body wash, deodorant and hand sanitizer and juices. These items can also be dropped off any time during the month and there is no sign-up for these items.
For more information about the pantry, see http://www.hudsoncsa.org/food-pantry. For questions about the donation process, please contact Michelle Draper at mldraper@yahoo.com. Thank you!
• Got Sneakers?
The Social Action Committee is collecting used sneakers. Donated sneakers will be refurbished for re-use or will be sent to a recycler who will extract as many materials as possible for reuse or sent to a waste-to-energy program. Our goal is to keep sneakers out of landfills and repair, reuse or recycle them. For sneakers in good condition, TBS receives a small amount of money to fund future Social Action causes. Please deposit your used sneakers into the bin marked as Got Sneakers in the Social Hall.
Note: athletic-wear only – no other type of shoe, boot or slipper. Rubber cleats are acceptable, but not metal cleats. Please deposit them attached as a pair by tying them together with the shoelaces or binding them with a rubber band. Adult and kids’ sneakers are welcome. Contact Cheryl Butensky at cheryl.butensky@gmail.com for more information.
TBSBrotherhood meetings/events
• Brotherhood Membership
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 TBS projects planned for 2026 – 2027. Please contact treasurer Art Busch, ascyb34@yahoo.com with any questions. * Please Do Notpay along with your Temple dues.
• 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. Announcements will be posted as soon as they are available!
Contact: Mike Miller at: mikemillercsi@roadrunner.com Thank you for your support!
************ TBSSisterhood meetings/events
• If you enjoy the sisterhood get togethers, that is awesome! We have a fun group, and I am hoping to see it grow. Now is a good time to renew your membership and there are options for doing so. At the bottom there will be a QR code to do so, or a link to print the paper renewal. Dues can be mailed to Robin Rosen-Sharp at 7440 Sylvan Drive, Kent, Ohio 44240. You can also pay dues at our next dinner or event.
If you are not a member yet, please check us out. We do dinners out, various other activities, fundraisers, and much laughing. Whether you come to meetings, attend programs, help us organize and plan events, or just contribute dues, you are choosing to support Sisterhood and all we do.
A portion of our dues goes to Women of Reform Judaism in North America and WRJ Central District. You are not only supporting the women and families of our temple, but also on a North American and Global level WRJ provides grants to fund clergy education, support our youth through NFTY and URJ camps, do advocacy work, and pay for a Legislative Assistant from the Religious Action Center. Through our affiliation with WRJ and our District we have the benefit of leadership training and education, the WRJ Speakers Bureau, and a District newsletter. Some of the topics we can learn about are marketing, membership, programming, fundraising, and how to write a Shabbat service. For our congregation Sisterhood helps to support our Religious School, fundraising, Sisterhood services, and a Sisterhood oneg.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me.
• Upcoming meetings and events are currently being planned and scheduled by the Sisterhood. Announcements will be posted as soon as they are available! Thank you for your support!
Temple Beth Shalom Website Notes and Links
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Please email your First Name, Last Name, and Email Address
to: hberman44236@yahoo.com
PAST NEWSLETTERS PW: TBSHudson
Past e-Megillahs can be found on Media > e-Megillah Newsletters page
KENT HILLEL SHABBAT Candle-lighting, Service/Community Discussion, FREE Dinner (*Registration is REQUIRED and will close each week on Thursday at 2:00pm)
KENT HILLEL Providing a comfortable atmosphere for socializing, studying, or connecting spiritually for students Zeffy We can now use Zeffyfor Dues, Fees, and Donations.
Temple Beth Shalom does not pay a fee
ISRAEL DONATIONS Donations to support Israel can be made at
Cleveland Federation
We love to share News & Announcements at TBS!
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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TBS presents a fall bike ride open to all members, October 3rd. There are two options for our ride. Ride as much or as little as you like. Time and final starting point will be sent out about a week before depending on weather, but probably around 10:00 AM. Please RSVP me and don’t forget to give me a selection for the starting point. The route with the most affirmative votes will be our selected trail.
1) The tow path trail from Boston Mills north (due to the closure we cannot go south). You can do as much or as little as you want; for the more adventurous you can go all the way to Wendy Park. It is mostly all flat, (mostly) till you get to Canal and route 17.
2) The Summit Metro Parks hike and bike trail from route 303. There are a few hills. but
it also is nice. You can go either way, to Brandywine or South.
So far, it is Wendy Hess, me (Aviva). and the Rabbi.
Please contact me with any questions. You may RSVP and state your preferred route to
redtailskv@mac com
Aviva Lakas
(440)292-6421
************ TBS Lending Library
The TBS library is open for business. Please borrow the books of your choice. Return them, pass them on, donate a different book back.
Thank you for your continued donations. We are in the process of adding three more bookcases so we can organize the books by subject: Biographies, Fiction, Hebrew, Israel, Holocaust, Holidays, Jewish humor, Prayers books, etc.,
wrriter@yahoo.com
All the best, Bill Riter AJL
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We are looking for Volunteers!
Help our Temple:
• Assist with events and gatherings
• Match activities to your interests & abilities
• E-Megillah Desktop Co-Publishers
• Participate in Brotherhood & Sisterhood • MaintainTBS Building & Landscaping
• Support & Enhance the TBS community
D E A T H S I N T H E L A S T Y E A R
Frances Berman • Rebecca RoseKaufman
Linda Schulman
A monthly yahrzeit list of TBS family loved ones will now be published in the e-megillah
as well as read during Shabbat services.
S E P T E M B E R Y A H R Z E I T S
Leslie David Alberty • Melanie Ann Andro Elliott Blumberg• Audrey Brown
Thomas Brown • Sidney Busch • David Caplin Panfil Costea • Louis Culiner
Edward Harold Gardner
Louis Benjamin Goldner • Steve Hook
Udice Kohn • Ivan Scott Lefkowitz
Albert Long • Harry L Lublin
Zelda Lila Neuman
Michael Aaron Rapport Frederick John Sharp Sr • Ruth Klein Terkel
If you have names to add, please send them with their yahrzeit date to:
Laurie Frankino, Ritual Chair, at lfrankino@gmail.com.
T B S
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sat. 9/5, 9:30 am: Torah Study and Bagels – special Elul journaling
Sat. 9/5, 7:00 pm: – 10:00 pm: “A Taste of Teshuvah – High Holiday Wine & Honey Tasting – dessert, journaling and prayers follow the tastings
SAVE THE DATE – Fri. 9/11, 7:30 pm: Erev Rosh Hashanah Services –zoom option available
SAVE THE DATE – Sat. 9/12, 10:00 am: Rosh Hashanah Morning Service – zoom option available
Sun. 9/13, 10:00 am: – Family Rosh Hashanah Experience – Hiram apple-picking, with lunch, tashlich
Fri. 9/18, 5:30 pm: Happy Hour “Second-Chances” Shabbat –family-friendly service with Deb Rogers
SAVE THE DATE – Sun. 9/20, 7:30 pm: Kol Nidre Services– zoom option available
SAVE THE DATE – Mon. 9/21, 10:00 am: Yom Kippur Morning Services – zoom option avaialble
For more information on temple services and other activities,
Thursday September 3, 2026
Temple Beth Shalom
Help our Temple:
• Upcoming meetings and events are currently being planned and scheduled by the Sisterhood. Announcements will be posted as soon as they are available!
The TBS library is open for business. Please borrow the books of your choice. Return them, pass them on, donate a different book back.