Shir Hadash Weekly Newsletter, April 11, 2013

To find out more about Shir Hadash, go to our website at www.shir-hadash.org.  

What’s Happening at a Glance

Membership News and Upcoming Events  

• It’s Ours! Shir Hadash Closes Deal for Building
• New Images for Sanctuary Design
• Spread the Word with Shir Hadash T-Shirts
• April Book Club: Everything is Illuminated, April 25
• Shir Hadash Annual Meeting, May 5

Education Update

• Upcoming school schedule
• Yom Tikkun Olam, April 21 

Teen News  

• Madrichim meeting, April 28
• JUF Teen Engagement Fair, May 5
• High school event with JRC, May 11

Creative Worship & Ritual  

• Upcoming Services: "Setting Our Jewish Compass", April 19 -- at the New Building!

Adult Education  

• More Jewish Thinkers: Leo Baeck, April 14, 9:30
• Recap: Discussion of Jews and Slavery

The Rabbi’s Corner: "Empowering Our Children"  

Community News  

• Parent & Family Connection for LGBTQ Jews in Chicagoland
• JUF Israel Solidarity Day, April 28

Membership and Upcoming Events

It’s Ours!
On Thursday, April 4, a group of Shir Hadash board members past and present joined Rabbi Eitan to finalize the purchase of our new synagogue home at 200 East Dundee Road in Wheeling. We celebrated the end of one journey 18 years in the making and the beginning of a new one, with wine and toasts of L’Chaim all around. Click here for a link to the TribLocal story on our closing.  
Now begins the exciting and challenging process of readying the building for our summer move. We are awaiting bids from several contractors and are poised to pack up and move all of our operations into the new building once construction is complete. We could use a hand with coordinating the move; e-mail Jeffrey Wallk at president@shir-hadash.org if you'd like to volunteer. Visit our website to view photos of the building, build out plans, the ark design, what the new building will offer our members, and much more.  

Check Out Our New Ark Design!  Last week’s newsletter featured a sketch of our proposed ark design. Now we have a architect’s rendering of the bima and ark in the new sanctuary space. There will also be artwork on the large wall to the left of the ark; members are encouraged to contact the building committee to give their input regarding artwork or any other design elements.  
Remember, our Shir Hadash website has all the latest information on our new building. Click here for updates, FAQs, photos, and more news!   

Spread the Word with Shir Hadash T-Shirts  Celebrate our new home – and let your friends know you love Shir Hadash – with a “Shalom to Our New Home” t-shirt! These white shirts have the graphic you see pictured here on the front, and our official logo on the back. They are available in men’s, women’s and kids’ sizes for $10. To order, contact Lisa McCulloh, 847-814-2922 or jjlisamc@gmail.com.   

Book Club  The next Book Club will be held on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30pm, at the home of Stacy Laner, 1047 Shambliss Court, Buffalo Grove. The book will be Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. This is the story of a young American Jew who flies to the Ukraine to search for the woman who saved his grandfather's life during the Nazi invasion. For more information, contact Meryl Abensohn at abenkras@aol.com. If you missed the chance to join us for the excellent stage production of Everything is Illuminated, you still have time; the play’s run has been extended until April 14. Visit www.nexttheatre.org for information.  

Education Update 

Upcoming Events at School  Sunday, April 14- Sunday school  Monday, April 15-- Havayah  Sunday, April 21-- Yom Tikkun Olam  Sunday, April 28-- Sunday School, Prospective Member Open House  Monday, April 29--Havayah BBQ at David's House  Sunday, May 5-- Last day of Sunday school  

Yom Tikkun Olam: Sunday, April 21  Shir Hadash is conducting the 8th Annual Day to Repair the World (Yom Tikkun Olam).  This day is our opportunity to give back and make a difference in the world.  Our religious school students and their families, along with other members of the congregation, will participate in activities of their choice.  Activities include crafts and bingo at a senior residence, clean-up at a nature center, gathering and organizing books to be donated to schools in need, and making greeting cards for Israeli soldiers. For complete descriptions, including times and locations, click here to visit our website.  
Please RSVP by Sunday, April 14^th. To sign up, simply email Education Director
Emily Ascher at eddirector@shir-hadash.org.  

Teen News

Madrichim: Our last meeting of the school year will be April 28. Please be sure to attend.  

Teen Engagement Fair  Here’s a great event for 7^th and 8^th graders and their families: JUF will sponsor a Teen Engagement Fair at the Chicagoland Jewish High School on May 5 from 1:00 to 4:00. The day will show you how Jewish life really begins AFTER your b’nai mitzvah, with travel opportunities, organizations, programs and more. Plus they’ll have raffles, kosher hot dog eating contests, and lots of other activities. To learn more and RSVP, visit http://juf.org/teen.  

Save the Date: Saturday evening, May 11th- High School event with JRC.  Details to follow... stay tuned!  

Creative Worship & Ritual

Upcoming Services  
April 19 Service - Setting Our Jewish Compass (And Set Your GPS for the New Building)  

On Friday, April 19 (7:30 pm), we have our next Friday night service - and it will be our first full service in the new building!  (We did have a very quick service there a few weeks ago, coupled with the building discussion, but this one will be a bit more leisurely.  Plus, now we actually own it!)  Given that we're all finding our way to the new place, our topic for this service is very relevant: How do we set our Jewish ‘compass,’ our conscience, for living a good life? Well, the Holiness Code of Leviticus 19 (this week's Torah portion) forms a list of great dos and don'ts for living a blessed and holy life.  Yet the code was written more than 2,500 years ago.  Do its precepts still apply to us today?  If not, then how can we reconstruct them to speak to our lives?  We’ll read Torah, study the ancient teachings, and then break into small groups to craft our contemporary version of the rules that can direct us in modern times.   Plus, we'll have a baby naming!  So don't miss it - and don't forget to bring something for the oneg!  

Adult Education

More Jewish Thinkers: Leo Baeck, Combining the Head and the Heart in a Jewish Way  
On Sunday morning (9:30 at Hellenic), we continue our discussion of modern Jewish thinkers.  We've talked about philosophers such as Hermann Cohen, who focused on Judaism as a religion of reason. And we've studied other thinkers, like Martin Buber, who focus more on feeling a connection to God and to other people.  Now we get to talk about someone who tried to combine those two strands of thought: Leo Baeck.Click here for a brief summary of Baeck's teachings - and his life, including his heroic conduct during the Holocaust. Come on Sunday, and we'll learn more about what Rabbi Baeck has to say to us now.  

Recap: Jews and Slavery  
On April 7, about twenty SH members joined in on an informative and lively discussion of how some Jews owned slaves in the antebellum South. The session extended into a second hour when Amram Ibraham and two other members of the Hebrew Israelites from the South Side joined  us. We continued our dialog to a point where we had to be ushered out of the building when it closed! We hope that these discussions with the Hebrew Israelites will continue in our new building.  

The Rabbi’s Corner

April 12-13, 2013 / 2 Iyar 5773 
Shabbat Tazria-MetzoraTorah Portion:  Leviticus 12:1-15:33 / Haftarah Portion: II Kings 7:3-20
“Empowering our Chidren”
Dear Friends,
Leprosy on my computer?  What’s the connection?  This week’s Torah portion, Tazria-Metzora, deals with the plague of leprosy, a condition that causes skin, clothing, and even wall plaster to waste away.  This was a dreaded and frightening malady that our ancestors tried to understand and confront as best they could. “Tzara’at” (leprosy) was a punishment from God caused by unrighteous behavior, they reasoned.  Curing it involved a process of repentance, quarantine and washing.

The Talmud teaches that the source of tzara’at is “lashon hara,” speaking gossip and lies about our friends, family and neighbors. When we speak falsely and spread rumors, we become spiritually deficient and bring wasting and loss upon our communities and ourselves….
To read the rest of The Rabbi’s Corner, click here to visit our website.

Community News

Parent & Family Connection for LGBTQ Jews  Is your child gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, or questioning? Do you want to talk to other Jewish families with LGBTQ children? If so, join the monthly discussions with Parent & Family Connection for LGBTQ Jews in Chicagoland. Upcoming meetings will be held on April 22 and May 20. Upcoming topics will include: transgender youth; passing--who knows, who doesn’t know; navigating a hetero-sexist world; healthy relationships and violence in the GLBTQ community; and conversation about creating inclusive communities.

With support from Keshet, Response provides group support for those dealing with any stage of the coming out process. Response helps adolescents in the Jewish and general community develop skills in communication, decision-making and leadership necessary to deal with life’s challenges. Response is a program of JCFS, a partner in serving our community, supported by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation.

Israel Solidarity Day  JUF is hosting its annual Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration at the 2013 Israel Solidarity Day, which will be held on Sunday, April 28th at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park.  Event highlights will include the Walk with Israel, fabulous all-day entertainment in Ravinia’s Pavilion featuring the King David Drummers, The Maccabeats and Matisyahu - acoustic, food for purchase and festivities for all ages.The day’s agenda is as follows:

10:00 a.m. Teen J-Serve Project* (on site)11:00 a.m. Registration opens11:30 a.m. King David Drummers12:15 p.m. The Maccabeats1:00 p.m. Israel Solidarity Day Kickoff Rally1:15 p.m. Three-Mile Walk with Israel & One-Mile Family Walk2:30 p.m. King David Drummers3:00 p.m. Matisyahu - acoustic4:00 p.m. Program concludes
* 8th to 12th graders are invited to participate in a city-wide service project.
For detailed information and registration, visit the JUF website.