June, 2025 Megillah
WITH LOVE
ברוך אתא י אלהינו מלך העולם שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה
Barukh ata ADONAI eloheynu melekh haolam sh’hekhiyanu v’kimanu v’higiyanu lazman hazeh
Blessed are YOU Holy God, Who has given us life and preserved us and brought us to this moment.
I just said this wonderful little blessing with friends when I ate my first cherry of the season. I was created and kept alive so that I could eat that cherry on Friday night.
Contemplating this I telescope outward: was I given life and sustained for just the cherry or for everything that happened on Friday (the hard conversation, the piece of fun, the time with a sad friend?) For the week? The month? The year? All of it? What if I were to think of myself as having been created and kept going exactly so that I would arrive at this moment — not just of eating a cherry but all of it? What if—as if such anthropocentric language can even be used—the Holy Blessed One before the beginning of the world, when creating souls, decided that WE were the people that the Holy Blessed One wanted to be alive right now? Or, to put it only slightly more modestly, what if we are the people that the world needs now? What if we—with all our foibles but also all our wisdom, all our love, all our brilliance—are part of giving life and sustaining this place where we live?
I spend a lot of time these days feeling helpless. I feel that way as an individual, and I also feel that way as part of a population that wants a friendly, safe, healthy, diverse, violence-free society and a restored natural order. Sometimes I feel like a child in a frightening and chaotic scene, who just wants a calm, trustworthy adult to come in and breathe some sanity into the room. But then I say to myself, as I often do, “There are no adults.” It’s neither wise nor realistic to hope that some powerful force from the outside is going to show up and fix things. It’s just us kids.
שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה
Who gave us life and sustained us and brought us to this moment.
What if we were built for this moment? What if we each have something specific that is needed to turn the tide towards healing, justice, thriving? I remember a long time ago spending a day chanting with Rabbi Shefa Gold. Before she got us singing she told us that there were eight important roles that a group needs seen to in order to deepen into chant. She asked people to volunteer to undertake each of these eight roles. It made a big impression on me at the time, and just now I tried to list them. I got to about three, so it’s lucky that I was able to find this lovely summary of Shefa’s “Eight Functions of Consciousness in a Spiritual Group,” as interpreted by Rabbi Diane Elliot:
1. The Empowerer Dedicated to the group energy; channels energy through themselves to the center of the group, so that everyone can be nurtured and empowered. Feel into the spatial center point of the group; know that it’s not your own energy that you’re channeling. Rather you’re becoming a conduit (tzinor) to a greater energy that moves through you, amplifying the spirit-force so that the group has more to work with. Task: Building group energy.
2. The Guide The visible leader; s/he sees and holds to the higher purpose of the group; builds structure and plan; sees and nurtures the potential of the whole and the capabilities of each part. [Note: it is difficult to fulfill this role when the other functions are not being attended to by others!] Task: Perceiving guidance and steering the ship.
3. The Observer Practices conscious attention on behalf of the group while still being a part of the group; witnesses the group’s energies and shifts in a non-judgmental way. Holds the questions: who are we becoming as a whole? Task: Perceiving the energy of the whole.
4. The Container Guardian of the group; creates safe/sacred space by containing the energy through three methods: arms, heart, and voice. Guards against outside intrusion. Task: Embracing and protecting the energy of the whole.
5. The Exalter Raises up sparks of the Divine by seeing them with the “eyes of the heart” and celebrating them; lifts them group through joyful presence. Task: Loving whatever is Divine in the moment, exalting it, and bringing it out further.
6. The Foundation Creates solidity and support through awareness of “ground;” lays consciousness beneath the group like a dance floor to support the group’s energies. Task: Establishing the Foundation for the group energy.
7. The Secret Heart Completely effaced in God/Devotion; the deepest part of the group, connecting with G-d on behalf of the group the least known part to outsides; God in the silence. Task: Surrendering to the depths on behalf of the group, thus connecting the group with those depths.
8. The Bridge Holds different states of consciousness and levels of meaning; senses connections among people, energies and ideas that enlarge the meaning and context for the group; flying with the meaning of words; allowing his/her mind to be blown on behalf of the group. Task: Holding paradox, contradiction, and cultivating “stereoscopic mode.”
I don’t know that these are the exact eight functions that are needed for bringing about justice, sustenance and safety to a wounded world. They just might be. But reviewing this list makes me remember that different gifts, different capacities are needed in every important endeavor. And we may well each have a particular function without which the whole chant, or the whole campaign, or the whole community won’t rise to its full power and possibility. If I remember right, that day I volunteered to be The Container: giving people the side-eye if they were fooling around and leaking energy. It was by no means all that was needed, but I was a pretty good one to do that just then. I was bossy and clear-eyed and not that much of an ecstatic. Maybe I was created and sustained exactly to be that person for that day.
And maybe we all are, for exactly the moment we are in now. I encourage us to think about our gifts and to contemplate the possibility that we were each created with particular capacities that the moment and the world need. None of us has it all. And neither does any supposed adult. It’s us kids bringing together our individual capacities and, when the time comes to use them, raising our hands.
NEW HEADINGS TO CELEBRATE NOT-SO-NEW TITLES
When Paige came to us she was “student rabbi.” Then she became “erev rav” (as in “almost a rabbi”). And now for well over a year she has been “rabbi” (not scare quotes!). But all this time the two rabbis’ columns have not changed their titles. It’s well past time for that to change. My column will now be called “With Love” (my preferred sign-off for communications to this beloved community) and Paige’s will heretofore be Dof Chodshi, “The Monthly Pa(i)ge.” Women from this community may recall that, way back, after over a decade of celebrating Rosh Hodesh in person every month, we moved to a monthly sheaf of texts to honor each month. Rabbi Margaret called that monthly page daf hodshi. Rabbi Paige is happy to reinvigorate the title.
DOF CHODSHI
There is a custom of reading one page of Talmud a day, in Hebrew called Dof Yomi, literally “Daily Page.” I always thought that, if I was ever to write a daily newsletter, this had to be the title. Now that I have space in a monthly newsletter, we’re renaming my Megillah column Dof Chodshi: “Monthly Pa(i)ge.”
Last week, we began the Hebrew month of Sivan. Sefer Yetzirah, an ancient mystical text that Kabbalah comes from, associates each month with a different Hebrew letter, linking this month to the letter ז zayin. The Hebrew word zayin interestingly means “weapon” and the written letter looks like a little sword with a blade. The Torah teaches about swords as symbols of precision and truth. The Zohar, another ancient mystical text that led to Kabbalah, refers to the Torah as “a sword that heals.” What a poetic paradox.
When some of us hear this phrase, we might think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of “a sword that heals” in regard to nonviolent resistance during the Civil Rights Movement. He uplifted a weapon that doesn’t destroy the enemy, but rather slices the conflict. Dr. King used a sword that pierces through injustice, not to harm but to awaken. He sought to heal, rather than wound. This imagery feels particularly relevant and inspiring right now. Living in a time of deep polarization and fear, so many of us are carrying sharpness—anger, heartbreak, urgency—and at the same time we are longing for healing, safety, some kind of wholeness. The idea of a sword that heals offers us a sacred challenge: how might we wield our sharpness in service of repair? How can we become swords that heal?
While there is a way to cut that causes harm, there is also a way that just reveals what’s underneath: what’s real, what’s possible, what needs to be tended. Zayin reminds us that healing doesn’t always come softly; sometimes it begins with a precise cut. During this month of Sivan, in a time when the world feels full of jagged edges, may we together learn to use our swords to smooth down those harsh points. May each of us learn, in our own way, how to become a sword that heals.
SHAVUOT
Shavuot begins this year on Sunday evening, June 1. As is our custom, we will celebrate with a feast of study, prayer and ample Turkish coffee! Shavuot, like many Jewish festivals, brings together an agricultural moment with a spiritual and historical one. Shavuot marks the day on which the first fruits of the year’s wheat crops were brought to Jerusalem and joyfully offered up. And it marks the day of the revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai. A custom given to us by our kabbalist ancestors is to stay up and study all night on the first night of Shavuot, a kind of spiritual preparation for receiving the gift of revelation. In our community’s happy case, many teachers will be offering the first fruits of their own learning. Please feel most welcome to come and partake of any of these beautiful offerings (and note that we will be starting earlier in the evening than we have in years past):
Our theme this year is the practice of prayer, its tools and details. As always, we hope to offer teachings that will touch our bodies, minds, hearts and souls, as follows:
7:30 - 8:00: short festival evening service with yizkor
8:00 - 8:30: MINA — tefillin-making
8:30 - 9:15: SANDRA — hitbodedut
9:15 - 9:30: coffee break
9:30 - 10:30: LUNA — worship of God-She
10:30 - 11:30: PAIGE — comparing different siddurim
11:30 - 11:50: MARGARET — tikkun hatzot, preparing for midnight prayer
11:50 - 12:10: MIDNIGHT PRAYER
12:10 - 12:20: coffee break
12:20 - 12:45: RUBY — sacred items used for worship
12:45 - 1:00: ARIEL — Kabbalah of prayer
1:00 - 1:30: MARGARET — choreography of prayer
KIDDUSH, BLINTZES and home to dream Torah
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 June are listed below. We have hybrid services, so come to the shul or Zoom from 10:30 AM until about 12:30 PM.
| 6/07/25 |
Nasso |
Raven Deerwater |
| 6/14/25 | Beha'alotcha |
Paige Lincenberg |
| 6/21/25 | Sh'lach |
Margaret Holub
|
| 6/28/25 | Korach |
Mina Cohen |
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) 937-1099.
KABBALAT SHABBAT
On Friday, June 13th, we’ll gather at Rabbi Paige and Ben's home on Cameron Road in Elk at 6:00 PM. Please RSVP to rabbipaige@gmail.com to get the address/directions. Following a short service, we will share a vegetarian potluck.
On July 11th our hosts will be Sandra and Kenny Wortzel in Albion.
If you’d like to host, but don’t have the space in your home, it’s possible to host at the shul. To schedule a Shabbat gathering, please contact Mina at (707) 937-1319 or mcohen@mcn.org.
PHILOSOPHY CIRCLE
Once a month, on the first Wednesday, we gather to explore a thought-provoking, philosophical topic. On June 4th at 5:30 PM at the shul, the circle will form. No outside reading or work is required. Just show up, hear a few profound sentences from a Jewish philosopher, then get lost in a stimulating discussion with our community. This month, we'll explore the mysterious dimension of time. For more information, contact Rabbi Paige at rabbipaige@gmail.com.
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
BIRTHDAYS
Please reach out to the celebrants noted below and spread love. If you would like your natal day listed, email rabbipaige@gmail.com with your birth date. (We list the day, but not the year, and your name will be featured only during the actual month of your birthday.) There are six June birthdays:
6/2 Gary Levenson-Palmer, 6/3 Benna Kolinsky, 6/5 Wade Gray,
6/8 Rosalie Winesuff, 6/11 Gowan Batist, 6/16 Reesha Katcher
HERE FOR YOU
Rabbis Margaret & Paige want to remind you all that we’re always available for you in any way we can be! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of them to go on a walk or have tea with you.
CAREGIVER SUPPORT
The Redwood Coast Seniors are sponsoring a weekly support group for caregivers of family members or friends. The group meets every Monday at 10:45 AM at the Senior Center (except when it is closed for a holiday). Caregivers can sometimes feel isolated, overburdened and overwhelmed, and they benefit from talking with other caregivers in a trusting environment and supporting each other. Esther Faber, LMFT, is the facilitator. There is no fee. For more information, please call the Redwood Coast Seniors at (707) 964-0443.
DEATH WITH POPCORN
Following up on our “Death Over Donuts” film and discussion in January, we’ll continue our exploration of end-of-life topics. Join us to watch a short documentary, “End Game,” on Monday, June 16th at 5:00 PM in the shul. The film follows multiple terminally ill people of different ages, races, and backgrounds in several palliative care facilities in the Bay Area. The people meet extraordinary medical practitioners hoping to change their approach to the inevitable. We will break into small groups to share our thoughts and feelings. You can watch the trailer at https://www.netflix.com/title/80210691. Snacks will be provided and everyone is welcome. Feel free to reach out to Esther Ehrlich with any questions at esther@estherehrlich.com or (510) 847-0628.
ELDERS CONVERSE
The Elders’ Conversation continues ever onward, with intimate, exploratory, often deepening conversation about topics of our choice. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month, 3:00 to 4:30 PM on Zoom. June dates are the 10th and 24th. Topics are voted on at the end of the prior meeting, and questions to stir the pot are shared in the MCJC announcements that Susan Tubbesing sends out before the meeting. We really mean it that people of all ages are most welcome to join the conversation.
SHARE YOUR GIFTS
On Sunday, June 22nd at 2:00 PM, Sandra Wortzel will present a Book Arts Workshop at the shul. She will demonstrate how to make a small book to use as a journal, or a sketchbook, or a repository of haikus or sweet little secrets. If you have any of these tools, please bring a bone folder, embroidery needle and colorful thread, glue stick, and a small decorative object like a small seashell or tiny piece of driftwood to serve as decoration or a little latch for the book. If you do not have such tools, they will be provided. And, of course, bring your playful creative selves!
If you plan to attend the Matanah, please RSVP to Leslie Krongold at elkrong@yahoo.com
JUSTICE GROUP
MCJC’s Justice Group meets in-person (only) at the shul at 5:30 PM on the last Monday of the month. In June, that will be the very last day of the month, June 30th. All are invited. If you'd like, bring a prayer for justice, a poem, a snack, an open mind, just YOU. Come hear updates on the Justice projects, Citizenship Scholarship and Indigenous Relationships. Share updates on organizing for immigration rights and other local justice activities. Continue discussion on allyship and on future foci of Justice meetings. For information or to receive Justice Group announcements, contact Donna Medley at dmthebeez9@gmail.com.
BOOK GROUP
The bookworms will meet on Monday June 16th at 2:00 PM on Zoom to discuss Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. The debut novel about estranged siblings who are reunited after receiving a mysterious inheritance is modern fairy tale illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose. The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been separated since childhood, both by resentment and wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive a windfall, the siblings agree to meet only to discover that their bequest isn’t land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs. Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas’ ancestral home outside Kyiv, but it’s not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past, hidden in Isaac and Bellatine’s blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a cross-country tour, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.
If you are not currently in the Book Group, please contact Fran Schwartz for the Zoom invitation at franbschwartz@gmail.com. Books are usually at Gallery Bookshop.
LIFE TASTES BETTER WITH CHEESECAKE
There is some debate as to when Jews were introduced to cheesecake, either in Greek-occupied ancient Palestine, where cream was left hanging in skins to thicken by draining the water out (similar to turning yogurt into labneh), or by the Romans a century or two later. But Jews took to cheesecake, and both made it to what is now modern Europe and beyond, where everyone adapted cheesecake to local tastes and ingredients.
We can learn a lot about using cheese curd in various forms of cakes, tarts, pies and pastries from 13th-17th century cookbooks. In Central and Northern Europe, it was often a sweet tart made with a larger-curd, tangier cheese called quark. Quark can be described as mascarpone mixed with sour cream. Italian recipes combined ricotta (usually sheep’s milk) with polenta and almonds, and sometimes lemon or rum as well, to create a more pudding-like, sweet “budino di ricotta,” directly descended from the ancient Romans. This creation has been served for centuries as part of Shavuot celebrations for Italian Jews.
By the 18th century, recipes became more thick custards of cream and eggs, flavored with lemon or citron peel, rosewater, and spices like cinnamon. From colonial manuscripts, we know that the English and other European colonists brought their versions to North America. But it was the Jewish immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe who came to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who really created today’s popular cheesecake culture. New York delis Reuben’s and Lindy’s feuded about which was the originator of the classic New York-style cheesecake. The cheesecake most popular today: cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and sugar, baked in a graham cracker crust. Add fruit on top and enjoy.
MCJC BOARD MEETING
The MCJC board will meet on June 11th at 5:30 on Zoom. If you wish to attend part of the meeting, please contact Susan Tubbesing at (707) 962-0565, or susan.tubbesing@gmail.com, and she will give you the address.
THE MAIL GOES THROUGH AGAIN
Kath Disney Nilson and Steve Nilson stepped forward once again to prepare the May Megillah for mailing. They can always be counted on, but we don’t want to wear them out. Just ask and the mitzvot can be yours. Good times and blessings too! Please contact Sarah at 962-0565 or 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
Estreilla Allen, Esther Ehrlich & Neal Davis, Myra Beals, Marinela Miclea, dobby sommer, Tracy Salkowitz & Rick Edwards, Laura Goldman & Dennak Murphy, Susan Hofberg, Danny Mandelbaum & Benna Kolinsky, Donna Feiner, George & Donna Montag, Lew Mermelstein, Bronna Lessen
Josh Lowell, in honor of the wedding of Clay Lowell & Sheana Voltz
Jonathan & Annett Lehan, in memory of Frances Lehan
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 |
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 |
707-937-1319 | mcohen@mcn.org |
| Volunteer Coordinator |
Joy Lancaster* |
510-703-9955 | martyjoy@sbcglobal.net |
| Building Maintenance |
Marnie Press* |
707-937-1905 | marniepress@gmail.com |
| Treasurer, Finance Committee |
Raven Deerwater* |
707-964-8333 | raven@taxpractitioner.com |
| Landscaping, Library |
Nina Ravitz* |
707-357-6462 | ninabo@mcn.org |
| Secretary, Finance Committee |
Alix Sabin* |
415-238-1342 | alixsabin@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 |
| Rabbi |
Margaret Holub |
707-734-0311 | mholub@mcn.org |
| Rabbi |
Paige Lincenberg |
rabbipaige@gmail.com |
