Shaarey Tphiloh Prayers, by Caryl Herzfeld
Devarim
Shabbat Hazon
August 13, 2016 – 9 Av 5776
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
Haftarah
Isaiah 1:1-27
Candle lighting 7:29 p.m.
Shabbat Services
Saturday, August 13, 2016 9:30 a.m.
Kiddush generously sponsored by Hildy Dunham and Ellen Forman in honor of all those who built and sustained Shaarey Tphiloh and are now moving the congregation
forward into an exciting and challenging future
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, 76 Noyes St. Portland, ME 04103
President: Dr. Natan Kahn
Administrative Director: Susan C. Lawrence
www.mainesynagogue.org/wp 207-773-0693
maineshul@nullgmail.com cstexec@nullgmail.com
Shaarey Tphiloh Office Hours: T, Th, F 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh extends its condolences to Jonas Smith and his family at the death of his brother George Smith, on 25 Tammuz 5776
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh extends condolences to The Laskoff Family at the death of Ruby Laskoff
Ner Lamaore
Adele and Richard Mack, in memory of Ruby Laskoff
Adele and Richard Mack, in memory of Larry Karp’s dear mother, Ronna Schneiderman.
Charles and Nancy Shuman, in memory of Esther Shuman
Doris and Stan Pollack, in memory of George Smith
Judith Kamin, in memory of Joseph Kamin
Sharon Silver, in memory of Jean Silver
The first parsha of Devarim, Moshe’s own addition to the first four books of the Torah, teaches about how one is to judge one’s fellow. The text implies that not only is humankind prone to judging and therefore being judged, but also that we are obligated to set up systems of justice. We are told not to show favor in judgment–in order to judge, we must be as objective as possible. The Torah proceeds to tell us that we must hear the small as well as the great. It is difficult for us to evaluate what issues are actually “great” or “small”–this is why we must be impartial in judgment.
Through being as objective and open in our judgment as possible, we are able to do what Rashi describes in his commentary as being subservient to our community, working not only for ourselves but primarily for others. This is what it is to listen justly between a man, his brother, and a litigant or stranger–Jew and non-Jew alike. Embodying this form of justice requires having an activist initiative–in order to represent all cases and hold them as equally significant under the law, we must make sure that every person is equally represented. This can be a scary proposition, but we are also told not to fear–we shall not let fear cause us to defer from justice, whether that involves speaking out for someone who cannot speak out for themselves because they do not have the economic resources or the language skills, such as an immigrant worker–or serving as a witness for someone whose case may be controversial or shunned by the community, such as a victim of domestic abuse. These are large tasks.
What reason do we have not to fear pursuing the seemingly unpursuable? God told B’nei Yisrael not to fear King Og despite his seemingly vast strength; the midrash (Berachot 54b) explains that the king tried to use brute force to beat down B’nei Yisrael but God–in all intentional irony–sent ants to eat a hole into the mountain. We can be empowered by this example, knowing that it is not physical strength but strength of mind and spirit that allows us to conquer obstacles and helps us to discard our fear and pursue the most daunting and difficult kinds of Torah justice.
Noa Albaum
Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox Social Justice OrganizationAt the New Moon: Rosh Chodesh
Sunday Morning, August 21, 2016, Shaarey Tphiloh, 76 Noyes Street, Portland, ME
Shacharit – 9-9:45
Breakfast – 9:45-10:15
Local community leaders and synagogue members will speak about the history of Shaarey Tphiloh and their years as members – 10:15-11
Torah procession to Temple Beth El – 11-11:15
Consecration of new space – 11:15 to 11:30
Untitled Poem by Peretz Markish, one of the Soviet Poets executed August 12, 1952
With lips pressed one to the other,
and eyes,
laden to their brows, silent,
and wooden bellies bound round
by rusty
iron belts,
gray rows of shops drag
across the Saturday-market gray,
like blind men, tightly clinging one to the other…
In the middle of the market
stands an overloaded wagon,
under the wagon a tall Gentile is stretched out
like a slaughtered corpse, snoring, ruminating, he gnashes and spits.
The horses chew, heads turned toward the wagon,
tails left dangling into infinity…
Peretz Markish— 1919
Peretz Markish (1895 – 1952) was an avant-garde Soviet Yiddish poet who eventually turned to Stalinism, then was arrested and killed along with the other top Soviet Yiddish writers in Lubyanka prison, the “Night of the Murdered Poets,” less than a year before Stalin’s own death.
Amelia Glaser is an Assistant Professor of Russian Literature at the University of California, San Diego. She translates poetry from Yiddish and Russian, and has translated and coedited (with David Weintraub) a collection of leftist Yiddish poems, Proletpen, America’s Rebel Yiddish Poets (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005).
Please join us for the community Tisha B’Av observance with reading of Eicha, the Book of Lamentations, on Saturday night, August 13th, 9 pm at the Fort Allen Park Gazebo in Portland. Please bring a folding chair and flashlight.
While you are at Ft. Allen Park, please note the changes. Friends of the Eastern Promenade, under the direction of Diane Davidson, has created a more beautiful and accessible public space. As you continue along the Eastern Promenade to the corner of Cutter Street (the street that takes you down to the beach), you will see one of the Portland Jewish community’s memorials to its past. The Jacob Cousins Post #99 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, together with the entire Portland community and national dignitaries, erected a marker in 1936 that commemorates Jacob Cousins and other Jewish men who died in the service of their country.
Efforts are underway to make this space more accessible and visually pleasing, as well.
If you have questions about this project, call Susan Cummings-Lawrence at 207-799-9257, see Fallen Heroes post below or contact Friends of the Eastern Promenade directly.
Tisha B’Av Chants and Elegies
The Milken Archive
A musical adventure of historic scope and proportion, the Milken Archive was founded in 1990 to document, preserve, and disseminate the vast body of music that pertains to the American Jewish experience. Over two decades, the Milken Archive has become the largest collection of American Jewish music ever assembled—more than 700 recorded works, including over 500 world premiere recordings. But the Milken Archive, known primarily up to now for its groundbreaking 50-CD series released on the Naxos label, is far more than a recording project. The Milken Archive’s collection consists of 800 hours of oral histories, 50,000 photographs and historical documents, and thousands of hours of video footage from recording sessions, interviews, and live performances, plus an extensive collection of program notes and essays—the vast majority written by Artistic Director Neil W. Levin, Professor of Music at the Jewish Theological Seminary and one of the foremost authorities on Jewish music—that provide historical and cultural context.
Use this link to find a selection of music related to Tisha B’Av and thousands of other choices, including oral histories and photographs.
http://www.milkenarchive.org/works/view/774
Melton: I am delighted to welcome you to our 7th year of course offerings through the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning with a few additional treats from local faculty members. Molly Curren Rowles, our Assistant Director, will be the contact person for classes until a new Programming Director is hired. I will be returning mid-January and look forward to catching up more with you then. Registration is currently open; I encourage you to sign up early and to support the scholarship fund. Deposits are $75/class and scholarship applications are due by August 8. ~ Fae Silverman
Call the JCA, 207-772-1959 to register
Mondays @ JCA 5:30pm-7:00pm
Sept 12-May 8
Rhythms of Jewish Living w/ babysitting & dinner
Tuesdays @ BH 9:00am-10:30am
Nov 1-Apr 4
BeMidbar: Leadership Defined & Defended
Wednesdays @ JCA 6:00pm-9:00pm
Oct 26 – Mar 8
Holocaust Studies: Primo Levi Book Club and Cinema
Wednesdays @ JCA 7:00pm-8:30pm Mar
15-May 23
Jewish Humor
Thursday @ Brunswick 6:30pm-8:30pm
Sept 15-May 11
Rhythms of Jewish Living
Wednesdays @ JCA 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Sept 21-Oct 5
Siamese Mah Jongg
Rabbinic Intern from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
More About Josh
Josh Pernick is currently a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in NY. A graduate of Brandeis University, he worked in the field of Jewish education for a number of years before beginning his rabbinic training at YCT, obtaining a Master of Arts in Teaching in Jewish Day School Elementary Education through the DeLeT program at Brandeis University as well as completing a post-graduate fellowship in Jewish education through the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators in Jerusalem.
He spent the past few years teaching Judaic studies at Jewish day schools in Charleston, SC, Watertown, MA and Atlanta GA, and currently teaches in a community education program at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in NY. Josh also serves on the Judaic Studies teaching staff during the summer at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. The son of a pulpit rabbi, Josh is looking forward to beginning his rabbinic career at Shaarey Tphiloh, learning from all of you who have been part of this community for so many years about all of the unique qualities that make Shaarey Tphiloh such a warm and special place
Center Day Camp, 74 Hackett Road, Windham, ME 04062
Sunday, September 18, 2016
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Adult and Family Enrichment such as Yoga.
How to participate:
Please mail us the name of your organization, the organizational representative who will attend and a description of what materials you will display. Along with contact information.
Deadline for participation: August 1st
Email to: Alexandra Sax
Jewish Community Alliance
asax@nullmainejewish.org
Hannaford at Back Cove is now carrying more items in its Kosher food freezer located at back of store. Ask an employee for more information.
by Susan Cummings-Lawrence
Thirty-four young Maine Jewish men died in the service of their country in the two World Wars. This project is meant to say a little something about some of them. More than just names on a public memorial marker or grave stone, these men were getting started in adult life. They had newly acquired high school and college diplomas. They had friends, families and communities who loved and valued them. They had goals and dreams. (SC-L)
Go to the online museum of Maine Historical Society― Maine Memory Network.
www.mainememory.net
Find four exhibits and two audio interviews with WWII veterans Mel Stone and Jim Friedlander. Also learn about the origins of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, the founding of the Jacob Cousins Post #99 and the anti-Semitism and other social forces that made their development necessary and productive.
– Find former Shaarey Tphiloh members who were Fallen Heroes –
Wish List:
Diapers and wipes
RICE!!
Baked Beans
Pasta Sauce & Pasta
Kid Friendly Snacks-granola bars, etc.
Cereal
Juice Boxes
On Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Shimon Simons will teach Maimonides’ Hilchot Deot, “laws of character development,” at Chabad House, 11 Pomeroy Street, Portland. The next class meeting is Tuesday, January 19. Texts will be provided. Call Chabad House at 871-8947 for more details or check the December issue of the Jewish Journal.
While you are at Ft. Allen Park, please note the changes. Friends of the Eastern Promenade, under the direction of Diane Davidson, has created a more beautiful and accessible public space. As you continue along the Eastern Promenade to the corner of Cutter Street (the street that takes you down to the beach), you will see one of the Portland Jewish community’s memorials to its past. The Jacob Cousins Post #99 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, together with the entire Portland community and national dignitaries, erected a marker in 1936 that commemorates Jacob Cousins and other Jewish men who died in the service of their country.
Efforts are underway to make this space more accessible and visually pleasing, as well.
If you have questions about this project, call Susan Cummings-Lawrence at 207-799-9257, see Fallen Heroes post below or contact Friends of the Eastern Promenade directly.
Every year, the Yiddish Book Center welcomes a group of enthusiastic, engaged high school students for our Great Jewish Books Summer Program. Applications for the 2016 program are due April 1.
Now in its fifth year, Great Jewish Books brings together a diverse group of rising high school juniors and seniors to spend a week reading important works of modern Jewish literature and discussing them in seminar-style classes led by college professors. Outside of class, they meet renowned visiting authors, enjoy group recreational activities in the Amherst area, and get a taste of college life while staying (with staff RAs) in dorms on the Hampshire College campus, adjacent to the Yiddish Book Center.
All students admitted to the program receive scholarships covering the full cost of tuition, room and board, books, and special events.
Because the program has proven so popular in the past, this year we’re offering two sessions of Great Jewish Books: July 24-29 and July 31-August 7.
You can learn more about the program at yiddishbookcenter.org/great-jewish-books or by calling or e-mailing us at 413-256-4900, ext. 143, orgreatjewishbooks@nullyiddishbookcenter.org. I’m also including a flyer about the program that can be downloaded here, which I hope you will post and share with others.
As we look forward to another exciting summer of Great Jewish Books, we appreciate your sharing this information with any prospective applicants you know.
No electronic devices are permitted. No electronic children’s toys or cell phones or cameras are permitted in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Please consider making a gift to one of our many funds. Call the office at 773-0693 for details. Thank you for your support of Shaarey Tphiloh. Contributions are tax-deductible.
10 Av Annabelle Gordon, Elias Leventhal, Molly Levinsky, Solomon Wine
11 Av Samuel Bernstein, Paul Blumenthal, Louis Rudstein, Morrill Shapiro, Goldie Sherriff, Harry Smith, Molly Sneider, Ben Zimmer
12 Av Sylvia Karlin, Max Serulnick, Edith Widro
13 Av Samuel Harrisburg, Louis Score
14 Av Benjamin Cohen, Jean Silver, Brandon Tellerman, Ethel Young, Sarah Zaitlin, Isaac Zwonkin
15 Av Harry Baker, Jean Meyer, Joseph Mirochnick, Diana Ostrin, Rose Robinson
16 Av Freida Modes, Sadye Tellan, Bertha Wolf
Shaarey Tphiloh is now celebrating 112 years as a traditional Jewish spiritual home in Maine!