April, 2026 Megillah
WITH LOVE
I’m writing this column three days before Mickey’s yahrzeit. Four years ago today he was alive. Four years and three days ago was his last game of pingpong, volleying with his daughter, Shirra, though he could barely stand for more than a few minutes. There is such a difference between being alive and being not-alive.
Mickey was a poet. He used to go upstairs to his loft and write, then come down his ladder with a printed sheet in his hand and the proudest, most expectant look on his face. He would thrust the sheet into my hand, and I would stop whatever I was doing or not-doing for a moment and read it aloud. Poetry for him was mostly ephemeral, about things he saw, things that happened around him. A favorite one of mine is about trying to touch a robin’s head. He wasn’t one to do a lot of obsessing on the perfect word. Writing for him was a little like chasing butterflies—he would net a poem, bring it in, and then let it go. During the years of COVID, until a few months before he died in early 2022, he wrote a set of six connected haikus every day. We’d do the reading ritual and then he would tuck the sheet into a manila folder, for the most part never to be seen again. I just measured the folder; it is 3⅝” thick.
As many of you know, for the last 14-plus months of the political regime in which we now live, I have been searching for Jewish sources that can help us to live as whole, intact people no matter what is happening around and to us. For the past couple of months I have been teaching a class—really a little butterfly-chase of my own—on the tales of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav. Reb Nachman was famously the author of the oft-sung (and misquoted) line, “All the world is a narrow bridge and above all is not to [make a habit of] fear[ing] at all.” He was an early Hasidic master who, as his own life was ending, told 13 confusing, enigmatic stories. They read a bit like fairy tales, with angry kings and banished princesses, children lost in a forest, and travels by boat from one strange landscape to another. I’ve always loved these stories, and in the intuitive way with which I often approach Jewish study, I had a feeling there was something in them for the time we are in now.
The stories often concern people who have been separated by cataclysm: a king and his daughter, beloveds destined to marry, children who help each other to survive in a forest. And there is often someone who is searching the world to bring them together. The stories, if I can generalize, live in that familiar place between the initial catastrophe and its final resolution—a wandering, searching place of ordeal. The first story, “The Loss of the Princess,” famously ends with the viceroy finding the lost princess. “And how he freed her, Rav. Nachman did not tell. And finally he did free her.”
Something about that feels so right and true—a broken, confused world, a long, brave struggle to bring the pieces together towards resolution, cruel impediments and tricks along the way. “How he freed her Rabbi Nachman did not tell.” A hope of healing, but no reveal as to how or when.
I’ve read a fair amount of Rabbi Nachman over the years, along with some secondary sources, and I have a sense of his neshama. He was moody, obsessed, grandiose. I think I can say with some confidence that he was nothing like Mickey Chalfin, who almost always moved lightly in the world. But as I have been mulling over Jewish texts that might help us to live in intact ways in a chaotic and disturbing time in the world, it crossed my mind recently to take a look in that 3⅝” thick folder on my bookshelf.
I started at the bottom of the stack, shortly before Mickey became ill; it’s dated 9/25/2021:
wearing out
in time, all wears out
no matter how strong
baskets, bones, breath
moon, sun, stars
all live the same truth
tight weaves carry water
strong backs split wood
inhalation of forest scents
universe expands
and disappears
leaving no signature
happy endings?
one could celebrate
this wearing out
as a perfect delight of having been once
as rilke exclaims
this having been once
even once
brings us
immeasurable joy
The line I most love is from his nearly last poem, a few weeks before he died, dated 2/9/22:
and all amazing life
will have had me
for a time
We may be lost in the forest, but there are mysterious beggars… or robins tantalizingly near our fingertips. We don’t know how anything will work out, whatever that might even mean. We are each here so briefly. We don’t see all the wires, understand all the forces. We may be delighted or terrified, probably some of each. I find this vision inspiring and even comforting.
It’s that “perfect delight” and honor and challenge “of having been once” for the blink of an eye in “all amazing life,” which is, after all, “just a narrow bridge” in a huge and active universe. This Pesach I wish us each and all, amid all that is lost and strange and fearsome, a taste of “immeasurable joy.”
WOMEN OF EXODUS
On the Second Night of Pesach, Thursday, April 2nd, at 5:00 PM, the Women of Exodus will gather for their seder in the shul. All are welcome to attend. Women and non-binary voices will lead the seder. We will follow the traditional seder / order, and tell the magid / story through the kolot / voices of our archetype ancestral women. We will follow the remembrance of the plagues with a ritual of transformation and blessing, and finish with beginning to count the mystical omer. The theme of this year’s seder is "Resistance" as we draw strength in the present from our foremothers, who defied pharaoh for generations before we danced our way to liberation.
If you plan on coming, please RSVP to Reesha Katcher at reeshadkatcher@gmail.com. Please choose to help with set-up (at 3:30 PM) or clean-up afterward, and indicate what food you can bring to the vegetarian potluck. Spring flowers are welcome. Plan to take food dishes and vases home after the seder.
OMER JOYS
Hunter and Margaret have been preparing to bring us many different pleasures during this year’s counting of the omer. The omer is the seven-week period of reflection between the second night of Pesach and Shavuot. We can look forward to receiving two different calendars for counting and daily contemplation. Most likely one will come by e-mail and the other will be in a physical form. Stay tuned on this front. In addition, these two will offer three different gatherings during the omer, each with its own flavor.
Growing your Kavanah, April 9th at 5:30 PM in the shul
A sweet and mellow night of introspection, journaling, tea, conversation, and art. We will touch on the historical significance of counting omer, develop our own intentions of what is most alive and growing in our worlds, and leave with tools to keep them going all the way until Shavuot, the day on which Moses received the commandments on Mt. Sinai.
Counting the Omer Game Show Bingo, April 30th at 7:00 PM in the shul
Come enjoy a zany pizza party at which our charming host will test your creativity and knowledge of the sefirot. There will be cheat sheets plus good old fashioned bingo. Who doesn't love bingo? Play along, and you can win potentially awesome prizes.
Omer Meditation on the Bluffs, May 7th at 5:30 PM
Beautiful ocean views and a quiet meditation on the sefirot at the Mendocino Bay Viewpoint on the south side of Big River, on the west side of Highway 1, just off Brewery Gulch Road. Follow the short trail to the overlook; bring a folding chair or whatever you'd prefer to sit on.
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST
We will have a Yom HaShoah service on Tuesday, April 14th at 7:00 PM in the shul. We are honored this year to have Fran Schwartz and Orah Young each read from their newly published books dealing with the Holocaust. Orah’s memoir is Tapestry Threads: “Through stories about my ancestors and relatives, I tell how entire communities have been destroyed by the Holocaust, both in Europe—in my case, Germany—and in Palestine/Israel through the arrival of waves of refugees before, during and after WWII.” Fran’s novel, Mila Eclipsed, draws from the story of a beloved friend of hers who was a hidden child during the Shoah, and follows her through her life as she reckons with her history. We will then read the names of people who perished in the Holocaust who are connected to people in our community, and we will offer memorial prayers and prayers for peace.
SHABBAT MORNING SERVICES
A full Shabbat service is led by community members, with singing, chanting and silence, Torah teaching and reading, blessings for healing and peace, and time for mourners to say Kaddish. The teachers for April are listed below. We have hybrid services, so come to the shul or Zoom in from 10:30 AM until about 12:30 PM. The Zoom address is below.
| 4/04/26 |
Passover |
Hunter Rook |
| 4/11/26 |
Shemini |
Leslie Krongold |
| 4/18/26 |
Tazria-Metzora |
Sandra Wortzel |
| 4/25/26 |
Achrei-Kedoshim |
Margaret Holub |
If you would like to give a Torah teaching during Shabbat services, or want more information about what’s involved, please contact Raven Deerwater at raven@taxpractitioner.com or (707) 813-7951.
ZOOM ADDRESS
We are using the Zoom address below for many MCJC events. Password is shalom. Disregard the numeric passcode at the bottom of the invitation unless you’re dialing in on a landline. If you have questions or problems, contact susan.tubbesing@gmail.com.
Join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7071836183?pwd=NzFaTkpjOXVYMDNnNnprOXlnZjVhQT09
Meeting ID: 707 183 6183
Passcode: shalom
Numeric Passcode: 776001
KABBALAT SHABBAT
Kabbalat Shabbat in April is at the home of Karen (Camille) Bowers in Mendocino on Friday April 24th at 6:00 PM. Please call her at (707) 684-0646 to let her know you are coming and for directions. Following a short service, we will share a vegetarian potluck.
Bonnie Mahoney is our host in May in Fort Bragg. We need a host in July and October.
If you have lovely outside space, summer is a great time for us to celebrate Shabbat outdoors. To host a gathering, please contact Mina at (707) 937-1319 or mcohen@mcn.org.
PHILOSOPHY CIRCLE
The wonderful Philosophy Circle that Rabbi Paige created for us continues under Margaret’s care. This month, instead of the first Wednesday of the month, which is the first night of Pesach, we’ll gather on Wednesday, April 15th, from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at the shul. We take a topic and a little bit of Jewish wisdom and reflect on it together in a very open way. Our theme for April will be memory. All are most welcome.
BIRTHDAYS
Please reach out to the celebrants noted below and spread love. If you would like your natal day listed, email sarah.nathe@gmail.com with your birth date. (We list the day, but not the year, and your name will be featured only during your birthday month.) Below are the April birthdays:
4/1 Alix Sabin, 4/2 Bob Melendi, 4/10 Holly Tannen, 4/20 Paige Lincenberg, 4/23 Marty Freedman, 4/24 Hunter Rook, 4/28 Myra Beals
ELDERS’ CONVERSATION
The elders meet to reflect and connect every second and fourth Tuesday of the month, 3:00 to 4:30 PM on Zoom. This month we will meet on April 14th and 28th. The group selects the next theme for conversation at the end of each meeting. New topics come up all the time, and we keep an ongoing list to choose from. Recently we “refreshed” our running list. Conversations are personal and open and sometimes revelatory People of all ages are most welcome.
JUSTICE GROUP
Justice-making is a yearlong activity. This month we will meet on April 27th at the shul from 5:30 to 7:00 PM to discuss what the Justices have been doing, what Justice is planning, and how you can participate. Usually in the mix there is a little learning about the art of justice-making, allyship, and self-care in an emotionally challenging time. Everyone is welcome. Snacks magically appear. For information or to receive Justice announcements, contact Donna Medley at dmthebeez9@gmail.com. Or check the e-list: groups.google.com/g/mcjc-justice.
BOOK GROUP
The book group will meet on Monday, April 20th, at 2:00 PM on Zoom to discuss American Midnight, by award-winning historian Adam Hochschild. In it he brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, and showing how their struggles can guide us today. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced. Self-appointed vigilantes made tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some 75 newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames. This was America during and after the Great War: an appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons. Its toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law have flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the segregationist Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O’Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover. If you are not currently in the Book Group, please contact Fran Schwartz for the Zoom invitation at franbschwartz@gmail.com. The book is at Gallery Bookshop.
THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF KURT WEILL
What happens when an impeccably trained young German composer decides he wants a new audience? When a nice Jewish boy starts hanging out with a Marxist poet and a Viennese flapper? When the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow becomes irrelevant? Susan Waterfall and her team—which included our own Mina Cohen—created a film describing Kurt Weill’s life and work, including a unique collection of both historic and contemporary performances of his songs. Weill communicated modernity while he survived the sweeping sociopolitical changes of Weimar Berlin, the rise of Hitler, Paris in the early 1930s, and Broadway in the 1940s. The Mendocino Music Festival will present the film on Sunday, April 12th at 3:00 PM in Preston Hall. Tickets are $30 from https://mendocinomusic.org. The film will be followed with a live performance by mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen accompanied by pianist Sarah Cahill.
ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS
We still have some food in our freezer at the shul should you need any. Among the offerings are single portions of vegetarian lasagna donated by the St. Michael’s free meals program. If you would like to get some, please contact Mina at (707) 367-3390 for the code to the shed. And remember to bring donations for the Food Bank when you come to the shul. Containers are in the kitchen for this.
TOYS REALLY R US
When Morris Michtom had his wife sew the first Teddy bear in 1902, not only did he ignite a craze for the darling stuffed animals, but he blazed a trail for many other first-generation Jewish immigrants to follow into the very lucrative toy business. That is the premise of Michael Kimmel’s new book, Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America. Before the Teddy bear, most kids had marbles, balls, hoops, and dolls made out of corn husks or socks. Very few stores sold toys. But Michtom’s success inspired many of his lantzmen to try their hands at inventing and selling playthings.
Joshua Lionel Cohen created his first toy train in a tenement on the Lower East Side, and marketed the electric Lionel Train in 1910. Louis Marx, proclaimed the “Toy King” by Time in 1937, gave us the first toy soldiers, toy guns, and toy cars, among other classics. Model airplanes, Chinese checkers, hula hoops, tiddly winks, and Magic 8 Balls were Jewish creations in a long procession that reached its pinnacle in Barbie, who sported her first spike heels in 1959.
These hustlers didn’t just make toys; they made toy companies. Michtom founded Ideal Toys, which has given us so much, including Betsy Wetsy. Hasbro, the company behind Mr. Potato Head and G.I. Joe, was started by Hillel, Henry, and Herman Hassenfeld, brothers who fled pogroms in Kishinev and arrived in New York just when the Teddy bear did. In the era following WWII, more time and money was devoted to children and their games. Mattel began in a garage in Los Angeles in 1945 as a collaboration between Elliot and Ruth Handler (Barbie’s mom) and adman Harold Matson. Toys “ᴙ” Us was founded in 1948 by Charles Lazarus.
Michael Kimmel is a sociologist, so his book is more than just a history of Jewish toymakers; its other goal is to show how they took advantage of, and contributed to a revolutionary new view of childhood in our culture. Prior to about 1900, many kids in the U.S. did not have much time to play; only about half of them went to school and the others worked. Furthermore, the dim view Puritans took of “play” remained a potent force: idleness was akin to laziness, a snare of Satan, and play was its closest companion.
Coincident with Teddy bear’s appearance, another Jew, the social reformer Felix Adler, made a cogent argument for the value of play in human development. A passionate campaigner against child labor and for kindergarten, Adler wrote in 1905, “The human being requires a period of preparation before it is ready to struggle for existence. The child must develop mentally, morally and physically, and to do so it must go to school and play.” Other Jews contributed to this revolutionary view of childhood. In 1913, Sidonie Gruenberg, president of the New York Child Study Association, published her best-selling Your Child: Today and Tomorrow to broaden narrow American ideas about child rearing. George Hecht, a social worker and follower of Adler, started Parents magazine in 1925, with its first-ever parental advice column.
– To be continued: too many toys??
MCJC BOARD MEETING
The MCJC board will meet on Wednesday, April 8th at 5:30 PM on Zoom. If you wish to attend part of the meeting, please contact Susan Tubbesing for the Zoom address at (707) 962-0565, or susan.tubbesing@gmail.com.
THANKS TO THE MAILERS
Steve and Kath Disney Nilson, and their fine feathered friends prepared the last Megillah for mailing. If you and your pet(s) are feeling an impulse to do that, no treat is involved, but the spiritual rewards are bounteous. To volunteer, contact Terry Clark, our Circulation Manager (at paintedpony64@yahoo.com), or Sarah Nathe (at sarah.nathe@gmail.com).
MEGILLAH SUBSCRIPTIONS
The Mendocino Megillah is published monthly as an emailed PDF and an online version. The online Megillah is posted on the newsletter page of the MCJC website: www.mcjc.org/newsletter. Any information on changes in email address or in email notifications should be sent to Sarah Nathe at sarah.nathe@gmail.com. If you choose not to be a contributing member of MCJC, we request a $54 annual fee for the Megillah.
THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING DONORS
Bob Evans, Kath Disney Nilson, Harriet Bye & Larry Sawyer, Donna Weintraub, Myra Beals, Fanshen Faber, Theresa Glasner Morales, Mary Lacey Gibson, Sandy Oppenheimer, Sally & Lee Welty, Jay Millen & Stacy Pollina-Millen, Marnie & Ron Press, Stuart & Tara Marcus, Deborah Karish, Nicole Zimmerman, Steve & Kelly Kalus, Julie & Bob Melendi, Barbara Oceanlight, Ceril Lisbon, Leslie Krongold & Jessica Nussbaum, Laura Goldman & Dennak Murphy, Ronnie James, Tracy Salkowitz & Rick Edwards, Sam Markson, Ronnie James, Nina Ravitz & Terry Clark, Dawn Hofberg & Robert Schlosser, Elaine & David Tavelli, Benna Kolinsky & Danny Mandelbaum
In memory of Diane Millen, with gratitude to Rabbi Margaret Holub, from the Millen family.
dobby sommer in memory of Doc Holub on the occasion of his Shloshim.
Ellie Trope in honor of Fran Schwartz.
Richard Lewis Miller in honor of Edward I Miller and of Dr. & Mrs. George Harry Miller.
To the Justice Group’s Citizenship Scholarship Fund: from Marsha Epstein in memory of Toby Epstein Jayaratne, and from Richard Lewis Miller in honor of Sarana, Evacheska, and Aaron.
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Mendocino Megillah is published monthly, except for August. The deadline for article submission is the 20th of the month before publication. The editor will include all appropriate material, space permitting, with the exception of copyrighted material lacking the permission of the author. Divergent opinions are welcome. Material printed in the Megillah does not necessarily represent the policy or opinions of the MCJC Board of Directors.
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| Chevra Kadisha |
Clare Bercot Zwerling |
956-571-0945 |
clarebercot@icloud.com |
| Cemetary |
Donna Montag |
707-877-3243 |
montag@mcn.org |
| Outreach (new to the community), Finance Committee, Announcements |
Susan Tubbesing* |
707-962-0565
|
susan.tubbesing@gmail.com |
| Justice Committee, Security |
Donna Medley* |
707-962-9493 |
dmthebeez9@gmail.com
|
| Women's retreat, Annual dinner |
Harriet Bye |
707-937-3622 |
bysawyer@mcn.org
|
| Kabbalat Shabbat Coordinator |
Mina Cohen |
707-367-3390 | mcohen@mcn.org |
| Volunteer Coordinator |
Joy Lancaster* |
||
| Building Maintenance |
Marnie Press* |
707-937-1905 | marniepress@gmail.com |
| Treasurer, Finance Committee |
Raven Deerwater* |
707-813-7951 | raven@taxpractitioner.com |
| Landscaping, Library |
Nina Ravitz* |
||
| Secretary, Finance Committee |
Alix Sabin* |
415-238-1342 | |
| Communications |
Neal Davis* |
neal@group5media.com | |
| Yahrzeit Notifications |
Bonnie Mahoney |
631-466-0156 | bonniemahoney2015@gmail.com |
| Book Group, Bikkur Cholim |
Fran Schwartz |
707-937-1352 | franbschwartz@gmail.com |
| Web dude |
Gus Mayeno |
webmaster@mcjc.org | |
| Megillah Editor, Name & Address & Subscription changes |
Sarah Nathe |
707-962-0565 |
sarah.nathe@gmail.com |
| Circulation Manager |
Terry Clark |
paintedpony64@yahoo.com | |
| Rabbi |
Margaret Holub |
707-734-0311 | mholub@mcn.org |
