Mendocino
E-Megillah
Mendocino
Coast Jewish Community ![]() May
2010
(5770)
The
Jewish
Center
(Shul) is located at 15071 Caspar Road, Caspar CA. The
MCJC
can
be
reached
at
(707)
964-6146
Mail
can
be
sent
to
PO
Box
291,
Little
River,
CA
95456
website: http://www.mcjc.org email: mcjcmegillah@mcjc.org PDF Version: http://www.mcjc.org/mjoldart/Megillah/MJMM0000.htm Facebook: MCJC - Mendocino Coast Jewish Community |

A
couple
of
weeks
ago my Reconstructionist rabbis met for their annual
confab -- this time in New Orleans. Being in that powerful and
challenged city meant a lot of conversation, both planned and
spontaneous, about race, class and privilege. This itself was quite
a privilege.
One of our speakers was Lance Hill, a historian at Tulane University and an incredibly impressive activist and thinker about race, class and privilege as they play out in his own city. He talked to us about the massive flight from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and about the much smaller return of former residents to their home city. The well-to-do of New Orleans either lived on higher ground and didn’t need to leave in the first place, or they could afford to return and rebuild their homes and lives fairly quickly. By contrast, many of the poorest people have not been able to return. And it is the way of politics that once you have left a place, even fleeing for your life, even if it was your home for generations, you lose your say in what happens there. So the more affluent returnees have begun making the policies that suit them. They quickly made massive changes in the public school system, began advocating for not rebuilding in poorer areas and so on. Hill described these post-Katrina planning decisions and the race and class agenda that he feels underlies them -- to make New Orleans a “smaller” -- i.e. whiter and richer -- city than it was.
In one of the commentaries Hill regularly posts on-line, he writes:
The problem is how we have defined “neighbor” or, in its modern form, “community.” All the myriad city and neighborhood planning commissions that convened in New Orleans after Katrina had one thing in common: they defined community as only the fortunate few who had made it back to the city. Suddenly nearly 350,000 people, 80% of whom were African American, ceased to be neighbors. The displaced and their needs became invisible in the planning process. It was as if the ship had gone down and those who escaped by life boat never bothered to return to search for survivors.
(June 6,2006 -- www.southerninstitute.info/commentaries)
Hill made more or less the same point in his talk to us rabbis. Then he offered what to me was a remarkably resonant statement. He talked about the word “trust.” I don’t have his exact words here, unfortunately, and so I won’t be able to write them here as eloquently as he spoke them. But essentially he said that trust is not a blind belief in something or someone. Trust is the assurance that someone will look after your interests if you are not present to look after them yourself. He said that real community should involve this kind of trust. You should know that your neighbors have your interests at heart, along with their own, even if for some reason you can‘t speak up for yourself.
Being trustworthy in this sense doesn’t mean that someone needs to do my will instead of their own -- but that they need to consider my needs, give regard to my voice, include me in the conversation, even if I am not able to do this for myself.
Hill advocates that communities -- meaning, in his context, residents of cities and towns and the like -- make explicit covenants that, should there be disasters which cause people to flee their homes, those people will continue to have a vote in their home community, even if they can’t return right away.
Any of us might ask ourselves: if, God forbid, we had to dash away in the night, who around us would continue to look after our possessions? Our jobs? Our rights? Our values? Who would continue to speak from our perspective? Who would do what they could to insure that we could return to a life that would again be hospitable to us?
We can ask that question writ large, as Lance Hill does, and we can also ask it from a much more intimate perspective.
In our mussar class this week, we are focusing on the middah (trait) of sh’tikah, of keeping quiet. So I have asked myself what makes me talk when I really shouldn’t. What is it that makes me be unwilling to let go of a point once I’ve made it once? What makes me raise my voice, talk faster, interrupt? Once I thought about it awhile, I realized that, for me, a lot of this comes down to a matter of trust. I don’t need to repeat myself if I trust people to listen to me the first time. I don’t need to interrupt if I trust that I will get a chance to speak my part. So much of my own poor behavior in this department comes down to lack of trust in the people around me.
People learn early whether to be trusting or mistrustful -- and very often early experience gets translated to whole new sets of relationships and community, over and over throughout life. I may out-talk you not because I have any reason to doubt that you personally can be trusted to give me my moment, but because I learned long before not to assume that I would be listened to.
But trust or mistrust is not just a habit learned in childhood that we superimpose on our adult relationships. We are constantly learning to trust -- or not to trust -- the people we make our lives with. This month Mickey and I will celebrate our seventeenth wedding anniversary. And, as I think about these years, I see how trust grows slowly over time, gets deeper and steadier. You can’t just decide to trust someone. Or maybe you can. But it might not be very wise. We learn who we can trust, to what degree, with which aspects of what is important to us. It is a blessing of inestimable value to have a mate, family members, friends and community that you know will hold your interests to heart even if you are not there to look after them yourself. And it is an equal blessing -- and challenge -- for us to be trustworthy.
Who
do
we
trust?
Who should we trust? Who should trust us? And what
does it take from each of us to strengthen those bonds of assurance
that allow us to feel safe with each other in the world?
-
Rabbi Margaret Holub
The Art of Tzedaka
MCJC’s
art exhibit and event series on the theme of giving continues. Works
by thirteen MCJC artists, and a collective piece by our Torah school
students, are on display at the shul through Sunday, May 16. You are
welcome to come have a look any time that the shul is open.
In addition there will be the following events surrounding the show:
Sunday, May 2, 7:00 PM -- Artists’ Panel -- artists will discuss their pieces, their artistic process and their works’ connections to the theme of tzedakah. The panelists will be Rosalie Winesuff, Rachel Binah, Andrea Luna, Sandy Berrigan, Alena Deerwater, Rabbi Margaret Holub and Karen Bowers. Mina Cohen will moderate.
The artists will explain their works that are featured in the show and will address issues such as Jewish visual imagery in their work, how they are or are not inspired by themes, and how does artistic teaching differ from verbal teaching. There will be an opportunity for dialogue and questions. This is also a chance to see this wonderful display of art, that is filling the walls of the shul. Raffle tickets for these works will be available at this event as well as at all times that the shul is open. The proceeds from this show will go to the Adele Saxe Tzedakah Fund and the final event and reception for the artists will be Sunday, May 16th at 7:00 pm. Other events are described elsewhere in this Megillah.
Sunday, May 9, 3:00 - 6:00 PM -- Craft party and tea, celebrating what we have learned from our mothers and grandmothers about generosity and giving. We will tell stories and make tzedakah envelopes to put in our bill drawers or fill with coins.
Sunday,
May 16, 7:00 PM -- Gala closing and raffle to raise funds for the
Adele Saxe Tzedaka Fund, MCJC’s fund for direct aid to local people
in times of need. (mc/mh)
Planning our next outings (possibly to include a hike to a “secret lake,” a trip to a sculpture garden in Napa, bird watching and other delights) and also planning the long-awaited “How to Use Your Cell Phone” training.
Open conversation -- “I’m glad I’m not young anymore” -- true or false??? What do we miss about our younger selves? What are we glad to leave behind? What changes and what stays the same?
And, of course, food. Bring side dishes to go around a pot of soup.
Folks
of
any
age
are welcome to these wonderful conversations. (mh)
Shavuot Sleep-Over and Don't Sleep-OverOur theme for this year will be SLEEP, WAKEFULNESS AND DREAMING. As always, you are warmly invited to participate in any or all of the night. Here are highlights of the festive plan:
9:00 PM -- Text study begins;
11:15 PM -- Offering of the First Fruits;
Midnight Prayer before the open ark;
3 AM -- Dream boxes;
6:00 AM -- Sunrise Shema, followed by
Gala blintz breakfast and off to sleep/school/work by 7:00 AM.
There will be singing, chanting, meditation, art and Turkish Coffee throughout the night
This year we especially invite people to sleep over at the shul. Bring your jammies; we’ll have soft mattresses and quilts (or you might want to bring your own...) Sleep and dream while the scholars carry on. Be cozy and add your sleeping neshama to the inspiration of the night.
Likewise, if you’re not an all-night-type, come by for a delicious breakfast and lots of strong coffee. We’d love to have lots of people join in the mitzvah of eating blintzes! (mh)
Mussar Class
The mussar class has three remaining meetings:May 5 -- emet (truth) May 26 -- perishut (separation) and June 9 -- final class meeting (for this round.) Note that there are three weeks between the May 5 and 26 classes, because of Shavuot falling in the intermediate week. All mussar class meetings are 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the shul. All are welcome to attend any of the class meetings. (mh)
Crossing the Red
Sea - Albion Style
by Helen Jacobs
Terry Gross &
Barbara Moed;
Leonardo & Karen Bowers; Art
& Rosalie Holub; Joan & Norman Rudman; Nancy Harris;
Tatanka
Russell; Laurel Moss; Dawn Hofberg & Bob Schlosser; Mark
&
Deena Zarlin; Mindy Rosenfeld & Hilleary Burgess; Marnie
& Ron
Press; Binah Polay; Joan & Paul Katzeff; Eileen Lopate; Susan
Hofberg; Jennifer Kreger & Wade Grey; Linda
James & Richard
Sacks-Wilner; Gerry & Sara Kreger; Irv & Rosalie
Winesuff;
Henrietta Steiniger.
MCJC
Board Meeting Dates
The
next MCJC Board meetings are scheduled for Thursday, May 6th
and Thursday, June 3rd.
If you would like to attend the meeting please contact Raven
Deerwater at raven@taxpractitioner.com
so he can let you know the time and include you on the agenda. (mc)
Mitzvah
Freezer is Available
The
freezer at the shul is full of delicious vegetarian food for those
who are ill or are having trouble preparing meals. The food
is
in single portion servings that can be easily reheated.
Ingredients for each is available in case there are issues of
allergy. If you or someone you care for needs this assistance
we will arrange for you to get it. For access or
if
you have any questions contact one of the Bikkur Cholim committee
Mina at 937-1319 or mcohen@mcn.org,
Fran
Schwartz
at
937-1352 or franamie@cs.com,
or
Karen Rakofsky at 937-5522 or nerak@mcn.org.
Thank
you
to
all who cooked for this mitzvah. (mc)
Kabbalat
Shabbat
In
May we will be celebrating our home Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner on
Friday, May 28th at the home of Hyla and Jack Bolsta in Cleone.
Please call them at 964-7646 for directions and to let them know you
are coming. In June we will be at the home of Susan Hofberg in
Albion. The June Kabbalat Shabbat will be June 18th
instead of the 4th
Shabbat. The monthly Kabbalat Shabbat includes a song-filled short
service that begins at 6:00 pm and is followed by a pot luck
vegetarian dinner. If you would like to host this wonderful
event in your home in future months, contact Mina at
937-1319.
(mc)
Shabbat
Tisch
In
May our Tisch dinner will be on Friday, May 14th
at 6:00 pm and fresh challah will be back! Last month our Tisch was
a joyous seder with matzah and this month our torah school children
will be making the challah. A vegetarian dinner is provided, though
if you feel like bringing dessert that is always welcome. (mc)
Torah
School Evolution
Torah
school meets every other Friday at the shul. We have a Hebrew
language textbook for the youngest students as well as the olders,
and we are continuing with stories, art, and of course challah baking
before the Tisch dinners. Children are always welcome so
please
call Jessica at 937-2115 or contact her at mcop@mcn.org.
(mc)
The
book group will not meet in May. In June we will meet Monday, June
21st
at 3:00 pm at Joanne Dickson’s home in Mendocino. Please call Fran
Schwartz at 937-1352 if you wish to join us. We will be
reading
“Three Cups of Tea” by Gregg Mortenson. This
book is not focused on a particularly Jewish subject or written by a
Jewish author, but in keeping with the Tzedakah theme this seemed
like an appropriate choice. Mortenson has successfully established
schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and
Pakistan by “replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading.”
(mc)Library
This
is a reminder to check out our library when you are at the shul. While
our library is tucked into a little corner of the shul, it is
chock full of books on every topic you can imagine including a large
selection of books for children and interesting films. Any book in
the library is available for self check out. Thanks again to Nona
Smith for helping us get it reorganized. (mc)
Community
Seder Thanks
Thank
you to all for making the Community Seder a big success. To Ruby for
supervising the kitchen, all the cooks, and the children of the Torah
School for the beautiful set up. Thank you to Mickey Chalfin for
being our Seder Hotline coordinator. (mc)
I
hope that everyone found the seder that was
perfect for them, and are preparing to stay up all night and greet the
dawn (and blini) for Shavuot.A
Tribute to Adele Saxe
Twenty
years have passed since my mother, Adele Saxe, died "young",at
the age of 71. Most of the people who read the Megillah today never
knew her and may wonder why our community's tzedekah fund is named
for her. My mother was raised by parents who started with nothing and
attained middle class comfort in less than a lifetime.
She was a child during the Great Depression and was a college student during the lead up to the Second World War, a young adult during the war. These were times, like today when our nation's financial resources were funneled away from the care of its citizens. My mother believed, largely based upon the Jewish values her parents instilled in her, that each person was put on earth to make the world better, and from a very early age she showed that she intended to spend her life doing that. My father, David, who passed away just last year joined with her in that goal.
My
parents purchased the property on Greenwood Ridge, where Ronnie and I
live and ultimately built a vacation home for themselves there. As
soon as we arrived my mother began helping us to live a Jewish life
here. Matzo and Jewish publications were in the mail, and Donna and
George, and Ella too, became recipients of Jewish calendars,
Barton's candy and other necessities. When Rabbi Hannan Sills moved
to our area Adele helped to get him a Jewish Federation grant so that
he could have an income while our fledgling community attempted to
get itself organized. My parents provided the money for the
first ever mailing of our newsletter, after Jane Corey's
parents, Hope and Jeff insisted on paying for a weekend stay at the
vacation house. The vacation house (affectionately known as cabin
11), was available to any visiting rabbi or teacher who wanted to
bring Judaism to our area. The Aquarian Minyan held an all night
Shavuot retreat there and our first High Holiday rabbis stayed
there.
My
mother lead Mendocino County's first Slichot service there
after being inspired by one at her synagogue. Of course,
Margaret often stayed in cabin 11 while she was getting acquainted
with our community. When it seemed time for our community to organize
a children's education program my mother paid for me to attend
CAJE
(Conference for Alternatives in Jewish Education).This was the start
of our ongoing Torah School and children's High Holy Day services.
I'll end by quoting a letter Donna Montag wrote twenty years ago.
"When our congregation was just a seed beginning to grow, David
and Adele nurtured it. They were among the first to give towards
buying our Torah. Now our congregation has blossomed to a beautiful
thing. We have just hired a full time rabbi. Again, there were David
and Adele, among the first to pledge membership to support our doing
this. I know that our congregation will always honor and revere Adele
Saxe for being one of the founding members of our Mendocino Jewish
Community."
-
Ellen Saxe
Thank
you to Ellen Saxe for sharing this memory of her mother. Join us on
Sunday May 9th,
to share stories of how our parents instilled the principles of
tzedakah and have some tea and refreshments. (mc)
The
Mendocino Megillah
is generated
in two
formats: the legacy hardcopy format
which is optimized for printing on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and the HTML
format which is formatted for easy reading on a computer display. You
can
subscribe to the hardcopy version and have it
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you can subscribe to the email version or you can receive both. If you
don’t need the hardcopy and want to do your bit to repair the
world by going electronic, and saving paper, toner and physical
transport, please email Myra at myrah@mcn.org
Todah Rabah! | Contributions to the
MCJC can be sent to: MCJC, Box 291, Little River, CA 95456. Please specify if your contribution is in memory or honor of someone, and please include your name and mailing address. Thanks! (dm) |
(MCJC underwriter's increase their businesses visibility to over 300 subscribers and improve their presence on the web. $80/year. Please contact Donna Montag to become an underwriter)
|
May 2010 Candle lighting times are for Manchester, CA, to generate times for your location go to http://www.hebcal.com/shabbat/ MCJC events are bolded |
||||||
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 Parashat Emor10:30a Shabbat Minyan |
||||||
|
2 Lag B'Omer7:00p Tzedaka Artists Panel |
3 |
4 5:00p Elder's Meet |
5 5:00p Mussar Class |
6 |
7 7:55p Candle lighting |
8 Parashat Behar-Bechukotai10:30a Shabbat Minyan |
|
9 3:00p Tzedaka Crafts Party |
10 |
11 |
12 Yom Yerushalayim |
13 |
14 Rosh Chodesh Sivan8:01p Candle lighting 6:00p - Tisch |
15 Parashat Bamidbar10:30a Shabbat Minyan |
|
16 7:00p Tzedaka Show Closing and Raffle |
17 |
18 Erev Shavuot8:05p Candle lighting 8:00p Shavuot All Nighter |
19 Shavuot I |
20 Shavuot II |
21 8:07p Candle lighting |
22 Parashat Nasso10:30a Shabbat Minyan |
|
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 5:00p Mussar Class |
27 |
28 8:13p Candle lighting6:00p Kabbalat Shabbat (Bolsta) |
29 Parashat Beha'alotcha10:30a Shabbat Minyan |
|
30 |
31 |
|||||
| Rituals and Holidays (including Hevra Kadisha/Cemetery) | Joan Katzeff* |
964-9161 | jkatzeff@mcn.org |
| Rituals and Holidays | Donna
Montag* |
877-3243 |
montag@mcn.org |
| Community Care (rides, help when ill) | Karen Rakofsky* | 937-5522 | nerak@mcn.org |
| Outreach
(new to the
community) |
Donna
Montag* |
877-3243 |
montag@mcn.org |
| Culture (films/ speakers/ Women’s Retreat) | Harriet Bye* | 937-3622 | bysawyer@mcn.org |
| Education (adult and children/ library) | Mina Cohen* | 937-1319 | mcohen@mcn.org |
| Treasurer (finance and
donations) |
Donna Montag* | 877-3243 |
montag@mcn.org |
| Board Secretary | Raven Deerwater* | 937-1099 | raven@taxpractitioner.com |
| Building Maintenance | Harriet Bye* | 937-3622 | bysawyer@mcn.org |
| Torah School | Jessica Grinberg | 937-2115 | mcop@mcn.org |
| Book Group | Fran Schwartz * |
937-1352 | franamie@cs.com |
| Megillah Submissions and Website | Bob Evans | bobevans@mcjc.org | |
| Name &
Address,
Subscription Changes |
Myra Beals |
myrah@mcn.org |
* = board member