CJC Newsletter March/April 2006

Dear Chevarim,

At our most recent Va'ad or Leadership Circle meeting on February 26th, many minds came together to focus on our community's pressing strategic needs and organizational transitions.

On March 1st, Sara Russell stepped down as Acting President and VP, and resumed her term on the Board as Membership Chair. Carrie Sealine has risen to the call, a la Moses as she cleverly observes, to assume the duties of President. Parallels with that leader of ancient times are that Carrie considers it an honor to be called upon to serve, but she can't do it alone. Three enthusiastic cheers and best wishes for our leadership!

Many CJC members have heeded the call of the Va'ad to add their brainpower to three Strategic Task Forces, charged with 1) Defining leadership responsibilities; 2) Assessing programming priorities; and, 3) Encouraging new leadership and member participation.

This call for involvement goes out to every member, or potential member, as part of our efforts to make clear the need for growing and sustaining the community. We have event committees, as well, that need your help on holiday preparations.

Contact Sara Russell at: (650) 490-0914, or email: saralrussell@sbcglobal.net.
Click here for a Membership Form

 

nature photos ©2005 Amee Evans Godwin

From Our Maggid:
by Jhos Singer

Shalom Chaverim-

Well, the 2006 Olympics just ended and I am just returning from my once-every-four-years trip into mainstream television watching America. Like any tourist, I return from these two weeks of being in a foreign land, full of stories about people and places and products that, in a very short time, have become part of my cultural landscape. I can tell you about Johnny Weir's attitude, Sasha Cohen's battle with self-doubt, the marital and immigration status of a small village of internationally esteemed athletes, the substance abuse problems of the bad boys of snowboarding, the miraculous comebacks and the crushing humiliation of a split-second decision that changed gold into thin air. I have heard the biting and condescending commentators; I have gotten teary watching the mini-documentaries about the difficult personal circumstances of featured Olympians; and, I have found out that 'Life Takes Visa' so many times that I am committed to never owning a Visa card, ever.

(Jhos' continued...)
I also got to live out a fantasy. Coming from a family that worked in semi-harmonious anarchy most of the time, I have always longed for those Hallmark moments that were mostly non-existent in my family. So, imagine my delight when I found myself sitting on the couch nuzzled up with Julie and our small flock of squirmy, sniffly, snuggly children. There was a tangle of baby feet begging to be massaged in my lap, a heavy head on my shoulder and a small little hand softly holding onto the inside of my elbow. All of us were fixed on the screen, groaning every time Dick Button made a snarky remark (Michael offered several times, "I certainly have had enough of HIM!"), and delighting in the amazing feats of daring and skill that filled the games.

Like most visitors of 'Olympianaland' for the next several days I was filled with dreams-I imagined the kids as Olympic medal winners in the 2014 games, accomplished and powerful, inspiring and triumphant-I imagined Julie and I in the stands grey and teary with pride as our kids stood on the medal stands…. and then, because at the peak moment of my reverie, Gabe had tossed a large bucket of Legos across the room which made a horrendous ruckus and mess and Michael's piercing voice screamed "I HATE you Gabey!!!!!" with perfect conviction, and because it was the latest in a series of loud annoying moments that had erupted that day, my inner movie changed. Now, it was 2018, the kids were all going nowhere fast, estranged from us, living in squalor, or deep debt or in bad relationships, or engaged in any manner of self-destructions, and it just got worse and worse until I had to turn it off and distract myself by scraping dried oatmeal off a serving spoon…

Judaism continually admonishes us to remember, yizkor. We are supposed to remember our past through stories and rituals, through establishing memorials for our departed loved ones, we are supposed to relive moments of our people's history. The past is fair game for exploration and imagination. The future, on the other hand, is somewhat off limits. While we are supposed to believe in a future redemption, we aren't allowed to expect a specific future of redemption. This is expressed in a number of ways. Prayers of supplication, for example, are limited in terms of how specific they can be. We are allowed to pray that we be blessed with children, but not what kind of children (gender, talents, beauty etc.). We can ask God for help but we can't request a particular outcome of that help. We can envision a future of Moshiach/salvation, but we can't envision the Messiah.

Part of why our teachers of blessed memory laid down limits on how much we could ask for is that we are supposed to be avdei HaShem/God's subjects or servants, and as such we are supposed to 'turn over' a fair amount of how things to our creator. At the same time we are created b'tzelem Elohim/as a reflection of Divine powers. Combining these two roles gives us the position of being in partnership with God. Humanity is seen as the physical embodiment of the Divine creative spark. We are able to affect our world more than any other species. We grind mountains up and restructure the gravel into roadways, garden paths, metal ores, sand box filler-we divert waterways and harness their energy, we pressurize oils into plastics, we forge metal into weaponry, art and tools. Humans are charged with the task of tikkun olam/ the repair of the world and are supposed to bring down God's shefa/flow of energy into the world as part of this task. Each one of us is a unique, essential, and important conduit. Each one of us has been specifically designed by our creator to play a specific role in the history of life. And each of us is one-of-a-kind. Really and truly, as marvelous as she is, the world only needs one Sasha Cohen.

This is precisely why we need to see our children, and each other, as we really are, right here, right now. We must also allow ourselves to be seen for who we really are. To do that we need to tell and listen to our histories. Every time one of us tells our story we relive and reveal our mistakes and the moments when we made a decision that led to change, growth and becoming. In our past we have a wealth of proof that truth is both fluid and enduring. We can see that knowledge and wisdom is cumulative, and that every moment of the ride is important and shouldn't be taken out of context. The task of this life is simply to manifest that which God has instilled in us, and that takes time. The task is to strip away the thick husks that hide our true souls and be as authentic, as is humanly possible. And oy, we are so easily knocked off course, loose our balance, hit the flag, but there's always next year in Tokyo….

As I sat down with my kids, amidst the spilled Legos and ruffled nerves, I looked at them as they are right now. They are unripe, and yet their essential flavors are present. What will they do with those hard-wired skills, attitudes and energies, I don't know. They are still gathering the experiences that they will need to grow their midot/personal values, which will inform their decisions. They have a lot of future, God willing, and not much past at this stage of the game, and as a parent that leaves me a lot of room for future "tripping". "Tripping" being the operative concept here, that is, I try to let my vision for their futures remain blurry and keep my prayers simple: "Dear God, may it be your will that my kids have long, happy, healthy lives. And may they find the strength and courage to be themselves and offer this world their talents and skills for the good." In the games of the Spirit, surely there is no brighter gold, silver or bronze than that.

Blessings---

Jhos

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nature photos ©2005 Amee Evans Godwin

Our Sheli'ach Tsibbur: Creating the Pesach Seder You Want To Attend
by Julie Batz

On March 11, Julie will be leading a workshop for CJC members about creating meaningful Pesach seders. This article, first published in out 2003 newsletter, explores some of the ideas and approaches we will be learning about. Please join us! (Saturday, March 11, 12:30-2:30, location TBD)

The purpose of the Pesach seder is to embody lessons and teachings from our history. For many people, the familiar experience of reading parts of the haggadah around a table connects them with these ideas and teachings. But for many others, to really stop and experience the depth of these teachings requires some more active experimentation -- conversation, artistic expression, music, movement, contemplation. This article is an invitation for all of us to start thinking about embodying the teachings of the Exodus story in ways that are involving, creative, and meaningful.

Plan Ahead To Share The Work
Put your energy into facilitating the ritual, and lighten your load on the meal. Make your seder a potluck (remember that there are a lot of ritual foods that can be brought by other people as well).

(Julie's continued...)

Be Comfortable
Consider having the ritual in a different place than your dining room table. You can gather many people together on the floor of a living room, with pillows for comfort and reclining, and put the seder plate on a low table in the middle. When the time comes for the meal, move to the dining room. You can finish the seder in either room. You can also give people something to eat during the ritual (vegetables and dip after Karpas segment of the seder, etc.) to help sustain energy for being involved in the ritual.

Start The Seder Experience Early
Ask each guest/family to prepare a presentation about some aspect of the seder, focusing on the themes that you want to explore together: spring, freedom, telling the story, the relevance of Pesach to our lives today, etc. The guest(s) then takes responsibility for leading that segment of the seder. They can bring a special reading, poem, or song; engage in creative storytelling; or lead an activity. At one of our family seders, my brother brought wildflower seeds, pots, and dirt, and invited everyone to dig and plant a little to celebrate the themes of spring and renewal.

Engage With The Story
For the last few years, my sister and her family have been responsible for this part of our family's seder. My brother-in-law is an artist, and he has crafted some incredible props -- cardboard costumes with holes cut out for faces; a Sea of Reeds that actually parts; and (this was truly amazing) a burning bush rigged with a propane tank that actually burned! When "Moses" came upon that burning bush, it was a thrilling moment....we really experienced amazement, magic, and delight.

In the tradition of a Moroccan family I know, a "stranger" comes to the door (actually, it's one of the guests who has put on a costume of a robe, head covering, and is carrying a large traveling sack). The seder guests draw out the Passover story by asking questions of this "wandering Hebrew."

Ask Questions
The tradition of text study in Judaism is fully realized during a Pesach seder. Along the way, start to explore some of the themes of the Exodus story: renewal, freedom, liberation from internal and external oppression, faith, courage. How do we understand these issues in the historical context and how do we experience them in our own lives? From what narrow places are we needing to escape? Who or what are the Moses's, Miriams, Aarons, Pharoahs, slaves, and plagues in our time and experience?

Have fun
As structured a ritual as the seder is, we are also instructed to remember and feel that we are free people. In that spirit, try to create a seder that is relaxed -- think of it as a kind of informal educational experience. Take breaks, eat when you need to, sing funny songs, pass around percussion instruments for everyone to play, get up and dance. Make your seder a model of what you want Jewish ritual and learning to be in your life.

Be Inclusive
Consider restructuring familiar parts of the ritual to encourage participation. For example, you can expand the afikomen search to include more than one winner. Decide where to hide the afikomen and write each letter of that location on a separate piece of paper. Hide each of those pieces around your house. Send everyone off on the hunt -- adults and children alike. When all the clues are assembled, the entire group has the pleasure of finding the afikomen.

Instead of filling Elijah's cup with wine at the beginning of the seder, some families wait to fill Elijah's cup until just before opening the door. At that time, they pass Elijah's cup to each participant who pours some of her/his win into it. This is symbolic of the need for each of us to play his/her part in bringing about the world we want to live in.

Choose A Good Haggadah
It's worth a trip to a Jewish bookstore or good secular bookstore (Cody's in Berkeley is legendary in this regard) to browse the many haggadot that are now available -- feminist, vegetarian, freedom, family, orthodox, renewal, and everything in between. (A quick search on Amazon.com brought up a list of 382 haggadot!) There are also many good versions of children's haggadot, including coloring books, that can help keep younger kids at the table longer.

I hope each of you find a way to make this year's seder new and vibrant. Chag sameach!

B'shalom, Julie

Many of the ideas in this article were inspired by Ron Wolfson's article Ten Tips for a Great Seder, published in United Synagogue Review, Spring 1993, and my friend and teacher, Judy Massarano.

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CJC Religious School Families Do a Tu B'shevat Mitzvah (and have a wonderful time in the process!)

by Marla Kolman

On Sunday morning Feb. 12, the day before Tu B'shevat, sunshine burst through the clouds and mixed with the cool air to provide the perfect setting for our religious school families' ecological mitzvah project at San Gregorio beach. Joining the 40 Religious School adults and children who participated was Neil Panton, the Director of the San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC), who taught us about the importance of healthy, clean water and the roles that our rivers and beach ecosystems play in our world. The morning began with our spirited and extra exuberant morning blessings and a brief tefilah service highlighting teachings from Jewish tradition about our roles as stewards of the earth and our connections to water, trees, and all life on earth.

Wendi Shafir, our Religious School Chair, parent, and SGERC board member, gave us some helpful tips on how we can help improve the environment by raising our awareness and making simple changes in our behaviors and in our homes (like, for example, taking our used batteries to designated disposal sites, not dumping chemicals into the storm drains, etc). Some of the students then collected water samples from the creek that runs into the ocean, and Neil guided us through a series of water quality tests. The students took turns adding tablets to the water, shaking it, comparing it to various color charts, and putting on headphones to listen to the clicks of the water flow monitoring machine. With special bags in hand, everyone donned gloves and had fun scouring the beach and climbing through scattered driftwood to collect trash and recyclables.

We ended our project on a sweet note with a delicious Tu B'shevat snack of fruits and nuts, and every part of the snack--including the cups we used--were then recycled or returned safely and respectfully to the earth. We watched the red-winged blackbirds play in the sun and the gulls waiting for any leftover crumbs we may have dropped.

We opened our hearts, eyes, and minds; used our hands and engaged all our senses that morning, a perfect mitzvah project for Tu B'shevat. It reminded all of us how lucky we are to be so connected to the coast, to such wonderful community, and to all the ecosystems, varieties of life, and beauty that colors our everyday world.

 

From Our New President: Carrie Sealine

Hey ho, CJC,

As our editor observes, I do feel a bit like Moses, receiving a call to service that seems as if it were better meant for someone else. I think the call to service must always feel this way, so I encourage you all to find your inner Moses and let him out in service of this beautiful, contentious, and holy community.

After all, it seems not that long ago when my family and I first came to check out services one cold and dark Shabbat night, only to walk into Benjamin's (Jacobson-Bell) naming ceremony. Arriving at very nearly the same moment was another family-the Dutton-Kenneys of Oakland-Benjamin's god-family and also friends of ours through our preschool community on the coastside of the bay. Realizing this was a community we didn't know we already had, it was but a short path to the Religious School, Va'ad, Board, and now this.

I want to thank the members-past, present and future-of our Va'ad Advisory Council: over 20 at February's meeting. I look forward to talking with you all over the phone and in person in the next few weeks.

A special "shout-out" to the men who participated in February's Va'ad-and for their great courage in stepping forward into leadership. Thanks to Chip Goldstein, Gary Warhaftig, Merrill Bobele, Phil Chapnick, Paul Godwin, Jon Helfman, and Kevin Morgan, who has been such a blessing as Va'ad facilitator.

Va'ad is open to every member of CJC. Our next meeting is April 30 and I look forward to seeing you there, especially if it will be your first time.

In assuming the presidency, I've also been mindful of the prophet-judge Samuel who warned the children of Israel about the consequences of wanting a king. Samuel strongly felt that a king (any leader to whom the people cede power) would ultimately be a bad thing-and right he was. I'd like us-the holy family of CJC-to remember Samuel's cautionary tale and to understand that the community is what we make it, and that holy work (avodah) is service (avodah) to Hashem.

B'shalom u'vracha (in peace and blessing), Carrie

 

Lifecycles - Bikkur Cholim

LIFECYCLES

Mazel tov to the Cristol-Deman family! On Feb 12, a healthy boy, Eli Raphael was born to Liza and Stuart Cristol-Deman. Congratulations to Liza, Stuart, Natan, and Leslie & Les Deman.

Welcome to Jack Eugene Goldman Gerwe! CJC Members Mindy Goldman and Kate Gerwe, and big sister Megan Goldman Gerwe have a new addition to the family! Jack Eugene Goldman Gerwe was born on February 17, 2006 at 12:50 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 3 oz.

Sympathies to Leila Lurie and her family for the loss of her father in February.

YARTZHEIT

Lesli Sachs' father, Louis Laeb Sachs, 3/04, 4 Adar I, 5744
Elizabeth Ross' mother, Matilda Ross, 3/07, 7 Adar I, 5762

Vaughn Harrison's father, Norman Polansky, 03/11, 11 Adar II, 5763
Sheila Weiss' father, Michael Kosmin, 3/18, 18 Adar II, 5733

Laura Alster-Martin's mother, Sylvia Alster, 3/11, 11 Adar I, 5766
Hank Stern's father, Al Stern, 03/29, 29 Adar I, 5733

Dorothy S. Rosenbaum, partner of Liz Gray, 4/2, 4 Nisan 5765
Kayla Bachrach Given, Cathy Hauer's mother, 4/1, 3 Nisan 5747

Edward Lobel, Kerry Lobel father, 4/25, 27 Nisan 5754
Jessica Wilson's father, 4/17, 19 Nisan 5765

“Help for our community is needed”

As always, new families appreciate dinners delivered to them.
Anyone able to cook for or help transport our community when the need arises,
please contact Linda Bea Miller: lb250a@hotmail.com or 726-6959.
We are in need of helpers.

Before the recent holiday season, someone e-mailed me expressing interest
in working with me on the Lifecycles position. I have since misplaced
your information (sorry). Could you please e-mail me again
(LB250a@hotmail.com) so I can contact you.

June is just around the corner. It is the time of year we change board members.
If there is another position on the board that you are interested in, contact us
and let's pursue it together. New board members equal new energy and new ideas.

Thanks, -LB

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Donations

GENERAL FUND

The CJC Board in honor of Liz Gray's service to the Board and in memory of her partner, Dorothy Rosenbaum

Lesli Sachs in honor of Eddie and Lesli's 1st anniversary, in celebration of Loryn's 20th birthday, and in memory of Amee's mom

Florence Hoffman in honor of Linda Jacobson and Maryann Bell and their children

Marta Drury in honor of Randi Howard & Mark Perlsweig

Karen Erlichman from the Ruach Havurah, which makes monthly contributions to CJC

Judith Belzer thanking CJC for allowing her to use our Torah for her son's Bar Mitzvah

 

 

Get more involved with CJC!

Sign up with eScrip - the electronic fundraising program in which participating merchants contribute when you buy stuff using your supermarket club/debit/credit cards that you register with eScrip. No receipts to collect, no tsuris (trouble) for you-and every purchase counts! Every time you shop at one of 6,000 merchant locations, a percentage of your purchase goes directly to CJC! It's simple and secure to sign up online:

Step #1: Go to www.escrip.com
Step #2: Click on Sign Up
Step #3: Enter CJC's Group ID#144028734
Step #4: Enter your card number(s).

It's easy. It's free. It's great for CJC.

 

Contact us!

CJC on the Web: www.coastsidejewishcommunity.org

Email: coastsidejewishcommunity@yahoo.com

Mailing Address: PO Box 1729, El Granada, CA, 94018

Spiritual Leaders:
Jhos Singer, Maggid 510-526-5397 cjcmaggid@sbcglobal.net
Julie Batz, Sheli'ach Tsibbur 510-549-3121 jbatz@sbcglobal.net

Board Members:
Carrie Sealine (President)
Sara Russell (Membership)
Leslie Deman (Secretary)
Wendi Shafir (Education)
Linda Bea Miller (Lifecycles)
Amee Evans Godwin (Publications)
Lissin Lev Chaya (Ritual)

CJC Newsletter: Amee Evans Godwin
Email: coastsidejewishcommunity@yahoo.com

Ocean Shore Printing
for all your printing needs
Bar/Bat Mitzvah & Wedding Invitations
575 Kelly Ave, Half Moon Bay 94019
650-726-5186

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Publications/Webmaster - coastsidejewishcommunity@yahoo.com