Shir Hadash Weekly Newsletter, March 14, 2013

To view this blog in its entirety, go to our website.  For daily event updates, visit our calendar.  

What’s Happening at a Glance

Membership and Upcoming Events

• Passover in the Matzah Aisle, March 17 and 24
• Social Action: Passover Basket Delivery, March 17
• Community Seder at Our Lady of the Brook, March 26
• April Book Club: Everything is Illuminated
• Save the Date: SH Annual Meeting, May 5

Education Update

• Upcoming school schedule

Teen News

• Madrichim Meeting, March 10
• National Teen Kallah, March 22-24

Creative Worship & Ritual  

• Special Service March 15 in our new building!

Adult Education  

• “The Most Important Jewish Philosopher You’ve Never Heard Of”, March 17

Community News  

• Interfaith Seder in Chicago, March 21
• JVS Career Connections for Professionals, March 21
• Parent & Family Connection for LGBTQ Jews in Chicagoland
• JUF Israel Solidarity Day, April 28

Membership and Upcoming Events  

Share Your Feedback on the New Building – FAQs now available on website!  What’s the latest news about Shir Hadash’s new building? You can find out all about it, including a list of frequently asked questions, on our website! Simply go to our home page and click on the link“Find out more about our new building.” There you will find the lates information, a list of FAQs, photos, and a description of what our new building offers you. We want to hear your feedback! Please e-mail your thoughts to Shir Hadash President Jeffrey Wallk at president@shir-hadash.org.  
Also, don't miss our special pre-Pesach service at the building on March 15, including the chance to discuss design choices for the sanctuary. Scroll down to the Creative Worship section for details.  

Passover in the Matzah Aisle  In the weeks before Passover, families flock to grocery stores to stock up on boxes of matzah and other foods for the holiday. Members of Shir Hadash will be reaching out to the Jewish community right where they shop, in the matzah aisle! This year, we will set up a table at the Dominick’s Fine Foods in Buffalo Grove, right down the road from our soon-to-be home. This will be an exciting, interactive, and fun way to teach about the holiday of Passover, share some samples and recipes and explain why we eat all that matzah! Come by to visit our table at Dominick’s – or better yet, please volunteer to take a one-hour shift at the table with Rabbi Eitan to meet and greet members of the Jewish community.  

Dates: Sunday, March 17, 1:00 to 4:00pm and Sunday, March 24, 11:00am to    3:00pm  Address: 770 S. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove  
Passover in the Matzah Aisle is a program of the Jewish Outreach Institute, based in New York City.  

Social Action Opportunities  Once again this year, Shir Hadash is joining with Maot Chitim of Greater Chicagoland to help them pack and deliver Passover food baskets for needy Jewish families all over the Chicago area.   
Delivery of food packages will take place on Sunday, March 17th, from 9:30 a. to 11:30 a.m. in the Buffalo Grove/Wheeling area.  We will be delivering 105 food packages, which will be in large boxes weighing approximately 20 lbs. each.  We deliver to several large complexes and use a rental truck to transport the boxes.  I will provide the address of where to meet for those interested in helping deliver boxes.          

To make this a smooth operation, we need about 10 - 15 people for delivery on March 17th. If you are interested in helping, please respond to Mark Lenhart, Social Action Chairman, at mjlenhart@comcast.net as soon as possible so he can coordinate plans with Maot Chitim. Mark will be able to provide volunteers with more details shortly before each date.
 

Community Seder  Join us for our annual Community Seder on Tuesday, March 26. This is always an exciting opportunity to celebrate together while we enjoy everyone’s favorite holiday recipes!  

When: Tuesday, March 26, 6pm  Where: Our Lady of the Brook, 3700 Dundee Road, Northbrook  RSVP: By Thursday, March 21. Click here to sign up your family. We suggest a nominal donation of $5.00 per person; children ages three and under are free. For more information, call (847) 498-8218.  

This event is to be veggie/dairy, using Kosher for Passover ingredients. Fish is welcome! Feel free to bring Ashkenazic and Sephardic dishes. (Sephardic allows some ingredients that Ashkenazic does not, such as rice, corn, and legumes). Please bring one dish serving 8-10 people for every two people in your group, along with one 32-oz bottle of grape juice (non-alcoholic only). For guidelines and suggestions, please contact Melanie at 847 913 9198 orfmandes@comcast.net, or visit our Facebook page for some new recipes!  

Business Mastermind Group  The Business Mastermind Group will be meeting on the first Sunday of each month while religious school is in session, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The mission is to build mutually beneficial relationships with Shir Hadash small business owners by providing value to other group members. Each meeting will feature a topic of interest that everyone agrees is important. We will focus on that topic for the whole meeting with everyone providing examples of their experiences related to the topic. At the first meeting, the group will pick a list of topics. Each meeting will start with brief introductions of everyone in the group. In this way, new people are always invited and will feel comfortable attending. For more information, contact Dan Wellisch at danw@wellsoftware.com.  

Book Club  The next Book Club will be held in April. 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. We are looking for someone to host the April Book Club meeting; please contact Meryl Abensohn at abenkras@aol.com if you are interested.  

Shir Hadash Goes to the Theatre: If you reserved tickets to the stage production of Everything is Illuminated on March 16, please meet us at 7:30pm at the Next Theater (in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street in Evanston). If you have questions, please contact Meryl at abenkras@aol.com.  

Education Update  
Upcoming School Schedule  

• Monday, March 18: Havayah at LCHS
• Spring Break: No School March 24 or 31
• Monday, April 1: Havayah (high school class) at LCHS
• Sunday, April 7: 7th Graders Present Yom Hashoah Service at Sunday School
• Sunday, April 14: Sunday School
• Monday, April 15: Havayah
• Sunday, April 21: Yom Tikkun Olam (Day to Repair the World) No school at Hellenic American Academy
• Sunday, April 28: Sunday School Open House for Prospective Members
• Monday, April 29: Last Day of Havayah BBQ
• Sunday, May 5: Last Day of Sunday School
• Friday, May 17: Shabbat services will be led by our Havayah

Teen News  

Madrichim  Please check your e-mail to confirm your assignments for the all school seder this Sunday, March, 17th. If anyone has a non-breakable seder plate that we can use during Sunday school, please let us know.  Thanks!  

National Teen Kallah  There is still time to register!  The weekend of March 22 - 24, 8th - 12th graders from Reconstructionist congregations across North America will have the opportunity to attend the exciting No'ar Hadash North American Teen Kallah to be held this year in Boston. This amazing weekend will be a great opportunity for you to meet other teens, have fun, take part in experiential Jewish learning, laugh at an improv comedy show, sing and dance, hang out, explore Boston, and be part of our exciting youth movement.  Please contactinfo@campjrf.org or youth@shir-hadash.org for an application.  
Save the Date: Saturday evening, May 11th- High School event with JRC.  Details to follow... stay tuned!  

Creative Worship & Ritual  
March 15 - Pre-Passover Service at Our New Location!  
On Friday, March 15, at 7:30, we will have a very special program and service at our planned new building - 200 W. Dundee Road in Wheeling. We will discuss the plans for the sanctuary, and provide an opportunity for members to provide input on the bima, the ark, and other aspects of the sanctuary design.

Before the discussion, we will have an abbreviated service, with a Passover theme: "Dayenu: Would It Have Been Enough?" Every Passover, we sing "Dayenu," which means "it would have been enough."  But what does that really mean? The Rabbi will help us to unlock the secrets of Dayenu. Then the sanctuary discussion, and then a little oneg--if you can, bring a Passover treat! Come and share...

Also - since it’s not our building yet, and the owners are kindly letting us use it for the evening, we have some setup and cleanup work to do. We need to bring some things over from the office and LCHS, set everything up beforehand, and then do a very complete cleanup afterward. The Creative Worship & Ritual Committee could use some help with these mitzvahs, so if you can lend a hand before or after, please send a note to Fred Andes atfandes@btlaw.com. Thanks!  

Overflow Parking Information: If the parking lot is full at the new building, please park at the Hawthorne School in Wheeling, which is located just north of our building. To get to the Hawthorne School parking lot from 200 West Dundee Road:

• Go east on Dundee Road to Wolf Road (which is just east of the building).
• Make a left turn onto Wolf Road and take it to Glendale Road.
• Make a left turn onto Glendale Road. It dead ends at the Hawthorne School, which is located at 200 Glendale Road. We have permission to use their lot. Their parking lot backs up to ours, so you can easily walk over the small foot-bridge and down the short path to our parking lot.

Adult Education 
“The Most Important Jewish Philosopher You’ve Never Heard Of”
As we continue our study of post-Torah Jewish thinkers (9:30 am on Sunday, at Hellenic), we come to someone who has been called the most important Jewish philosopher of the 19^th century. He created and popularized the concept of Judaism being a religion of ethical monotheism. His name is – Hermann Cohen. Never heard of him? Well, he didn’t have as good a press agent as Martin Buber or Mordecai Kaplan, but his ideas could be just as important as theirs in shaping how we think of ourselves as Jews today. Here’s some basic info on Cohen’s concepts. Come to class and learn more!

The Rabbi’s Corner
March 15-16, 2013 / 5 Nisan 5773Shabbat VayikraTorah Portion: Leviticus 1:1-5:26 / Haftarah Portion: Isaiah 43:21-44:23
"The Mitzvah of Sacrifice"
Dear Friends,
This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah - the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus).  The style and subject material of Vayikra is completely different than anything found in the other books of the Torah - Bereisheet (Genesis), Sh’mot (Exodus), Bamidbar (Numbers) and D’varim (Deuteronomy).  In Vayikra we learn about the roles and responsibilities of the priests of Israel who come from the tribe of Levi, hence the Latin name for the book, Leviticus.  Much of the book focuses on the technicalities of offering proper sacrifices to God.
For some reason, we in the West have come to understand the word ‘sacrifice’ as something that we give up begrudgingly, because we have to - we have no choice.  When we make a sacrifice, we are often not happy about it…  Consider, rather, that the origin of the word ‘sacrifice’ is from the Latin ‘sacre’ or ‘sacred’ which means ‘holy.’  Furthermore, the Hebrew word for sacrifice is ‘korban,’ which means to ‘bring close.’...

To read the rest of The Rabbi’s Corner, click here to visit our website.

Community News
Multi-faith Seder: The Cup is for All of Us  Rabbi Eitan will be leading the Multi-faith Passover Seder again this year on March 21st at the A.M.E. Zion Church at 6930 S. Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago. This event is presented by Friend of Shir Hadash Amram Abraham and his organization Institute for a New World Vision. The seder is an exciting encounter between Christians and Jews, as well as between Black and White Jews.  About half a dozen Shir Hadash members joined Rabbi Eitan in attending last year's seder and we all found it fascination and uplifting.  The food was great, as was the music. Any Shir Hadash members who would like to ride to the seder together can contact Lynne Arons, Rzldzl122@aol.com or 847 732 7001. For more information, click here.

Career Connections for Professionals  On March 21, JVS Chicago Career Development  Director Linda Wolfe will present “What the Heck is a Personal Brand and Why Do I Need One?” as part of the JVS Career Connections series. The presentation will be held at Lakeside Congregation, 1221 County Line Road in Highland Park from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Learn how to identify your unique skills and values and how to sell them to employers!  Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Click here to register or contact Sandra Saltzman atsandrasaltzman@jvschicago.org for more information.

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.

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.