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The TOS Religious School Registration form for the 2008-2009 school year is not available. If you have not already received it, you can download it from the Religious School page. Click on Lifelong Learning to learn more.
Volume 2 Issue 31, April 23, 2008
Highlights from this week’s TOS eWeekly:
FIRST FRIDAY – May 2nd, 6 PM
Community-wide dinner and 7 PM service featuring Rabbi Donsky, Shara Taylor and Kol Yafeh, our teen chorus!!!
Not to be missed – as this group of very talented young people share their excite and passion for Jewish music! Don’t forget to email to reserve a dinner spot (old way of registering on the web is not working yet)
SHABBAT MORNING - May 3rd 10:00
with Rabbi Donsky and our Cantorial Intern, Tifani Katof, when Lauren Michael, daughter of Lisa Michael and Tom Michael will be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah.
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
10:15AM on Sunday, May 4th
The congregational meeting will now take place at 10:15AM on Sunday, May 4th in the Multi-purpose room. And we will take time to honor Elaine Rose for her years of service and love she has given to TOS!
WEBSITE
Visit our new website! Oh wait, you are! Welcome! Please take a moment to reregister by clicking the New Member link at the top. Soon we will be implementing various members-only features that you will need to login to access.
Lifelong Learning and Youth News
Please fill out your school registration forms for next year!
New Kindergarten students should receive forms in the mail. Returning students receive registration forms in their mailbox. Please complete new 2008-09 forms and return them before this school year ends. Place them in the wall pockets by the education wing door. Thank you!
Last Day School Picnic….let’s celebrate at North Park from 12 – 2. Please contact us and let us know you can help plan the picnic!
URJ Camping Program for Children on the Autism Spectrum
Two great camping experiences – one in Texas at “Camp Simcha” at URJ Greene Family Camp, Aug. 7th – August 10th and “Tzofim Camp” at URJ Kutz Camp in New York June 29 thru July 6th (14 – 18 years old) and July 9 thru July 13 (Campers 10 – 13 years old)
For more information email or
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday, April 27thh Mah-Jongg 1-4:00PM Multi Purpose Room
Thursday, May 1st Yom HaShoah v’haGevurah-Day of Destruction & Heroism Holocaust Remembrance Day-Guest Speaker Sister Camille from Vicentian Academy
Friday, May 2nd 1st Friday Dinner 6:15PM, services at 7:00PM Last of the season!
Sunday, May 4th 10:15AM Congregational Meeting-Multi-Purpose Room
Friday, May 16th 6:15 Tot Shabbat Service 6:45PM Dinner
Saturday, June 7th 2-5:00PM Regional Women of Reform Judaism Meeting—details to follow
Sunday, June 8th Kabbalat Torah/Shavuot 7:00PM
Save the date for Shavuot!
“In every generation, each one of us is obligated to experience, on a personal level, the Exodus from Egypt.” This key verse from the Haggadah reminds us each year why we celebrate Pesakh. We were there! We were slaves in Egypt! We were witness to the redemption at the shores of the Sea of Reeds! And we desire to pass on to the next generation our great story of Slavery and Liberation.
However, according to our tradition, we didn’t stop at the shores of the Red Sea, we continued on to Sinai to receive the Torah. And so, whether you observe Pesakh for 7 or 8 days we don’t stop there, we continue counting (the Omer) until we reach Shavuot, the fiftieth day after Pesakh. The Festival of Shavuot (this year it begins on Sunday evening, June 8th) traditionally celebrates agricultural spring harvest as well as the Giving of Torah, Matan Torah. We, like Reform congregations throughout North America, also observe this day as the time for our 10th graders to celebrate the ceremony of Kabbalat Torah (Receiving the Torah).
Please add this very special date to your calendar. In fact, print this flyer out and stick it to the fridge. Now that we have celebrated our personal liberation from Egypt amidst the Jewish community, we can participate in receiving the Torah, “re-enacting the Sinai moment,” on Shavuot.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Art Donsky
The following article was published in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle on April 17, 2008 and written by Temple member Hilary Daninhirsch.
Four-year old Ariella Avigad of Franklin Park has been coming home from preschool with some Hebrew words in her vocabulary. Says her mother, Elinor Avigad, “When Ariella says ‘Boker Tov’ at the breakfast table, we are thrilled that we sent her to a Jewish preschool.”
That is exactly what Liz Sender, director of Ariella’s preschool at Temple Ohav Shalom, wanted to achieve.
Last week, Israeli preschool teachers Dina Liberman and Tzivik Costa arrived in Pittsburgh as part of a nine-day learning exchange program between Israel and Pittsburgh early childhood educators, sponsored by the Agency for Jewish Learning (AJL). The focus was to incorporate Israel into the preschool classroom.
Sender, along with Gail Schmitt, director of Adat Shalom’s preschool and other preschool teachers across the Pittsburgh region, went to Israel last summer for two weeks as part of an AJL-sponsored study tour. In addition to touring the country, the teachers visited preschools in the Misgav region.
Liberman spent one full day at Temple Ohav Shalom’s preschool and Costa spent a day at Adat Shalom’s preschool.
Both directors felt that the children were enriched by having Costa and Liberman visit their schools. Costa read to the Adat Shalom children, sang songs and handed out Israeli CDs. “She was a wealth of knowledge, and was very sensitive and caring. It was a wonderful experience,” said Schmitt.
In Sender’s class, Liberman affectionately asked each child their names. The children seemed mesmerized as Sender and Liberman each took turns reading from Eric Carle’s A Very Hungry Caterpillar, alternating between the English and Hebrew versions of the popular children’s book. Liberman also played some finger games in Hebrew and concluded her visit by teaching the children an Israeli dance and handing out Israeli flags.
Since the Israeli study tour, Sender said she has been teaching the children basic Hebrew words such as numbers and simple phrases such as “please sit down” and “thank you.” When the preschoolers talk about the weather in Pittsburgh, they’ll also talk about what the weather is like in Israel. In the older classroom, the children have created a “passport” to Israel, where they are learning about the Israeli landscape.
Sender’s classes have penpals in Israel; they send each other letters and small gifts. At Chanukah, they received some Israeli dreidels. Sender said, “The purpose is, if we can get young children excited about Israel, they’ll feel more of a bond with Israel as they grow older.”
Schmitt has been incorporating a similar program at Adat Shalom’s preschool. She said that the children learn about Israel through daily awareness, such as looking at maps and pictures of Israel that Schmitt took while there last summer. Said Schmitt, “We have real, tangible things to show the kids in very concrete ways what children in Israel are doing. We have an exchange with a school there—we exchanged Rosh Hashanah cards, for example.” And while the children at Adat celebrated Purim, the teachers showed pictures of Israeli children doing the same thing. They also shared Israeli megillas and groggers with the preschoolers.
Schmitt added that the synagogue is working on plans for an Israel room, an idea that was borne out of the Israel trip.
As for her own experience in Israel, Sender commented that you can learn about Israel in a classroom setting, but, “When you actually go to Israel, it brings everything to life.”
This was Liberman’s first visit to the United States. She worried about traveling so close to Pesach, but her husband, who was left by himself caring for their four children, encouraged her, saying, “Your brothers and sisters in America need you.”
Liberman’s preschool in Israel, of which she is director, has an enrollment of 120 children. In Israel, Liberman explained, children between the ages of 3-6 attend the “children’s garden,” the American equivalent to preschool.
She added that Jews all over the world, whether Orthodox or Reform, are all one big family, and she wanted her own students to realize this, as well as the students with whom she would be visiting during this trip to Pittsburgh.
Liberman said, “I must speak with children about what Israel means to us in the Jewish community. It is important to start early.”
The itinerary for both women included visits to the South Hills J.C.C., Hillel Academy and Yeshiva as well as a few other area preschools. Liberman and Costa also planned to speak at a Jewish Teacher’s Institute training course and present at a workshop. Some time was left for visits to Pittsburgh points of interest.
Volume 2 Issue 30, April 16, 2008
Parashat Acharey Mot - Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30
“In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month (Yom Kippur), you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the stranger who resides among you.”
One of the most beautiful and endearing aspects of Jewish tradition is the respect offered to the “stranger,” the non-citizen who dwelt among the people. In this verse from our sedra we are instructed about the central practices of Yom Kippur. The “stranger” is welcome and included in the practices of the ancient Israelite community.
We continue such welcoming especially at this season of the year. Our Festival of Freedom, Pesakh, is a time for opening our doors and welcome friends and “strangers”. Please let me know if you might have an extra place or two at your sedarim this coming Saturday and Sunday night. We usually have members of our congregation as well as others, “strangers,” interested in learning more about Judaism who seek a chance to experience a meaningful seder!
Also, don’t forget that on Sunday, April 20th at 10 AM we will hold a Pesakh Festival morning service – please join us and help make a Minyan.
May you enjoy a sweet and joyous Pesakh,
Rabbi Art Donsky
Pre-Pesakh Entertainment!
“Come celebrate a music-filled Shabbat with Shara Taylor and Rabbi Donsky! Let the sound of the flute lift your soul for Shabbat and our spring Freedom Festival of Pesakh. Take a needed break from your Seder preparation and join us this Friday, April 18th at 7:30 PM.
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
The congregational meeting will now take place at 10:15AM on Sunday, May 4th in the Multi-purpose room. And we will take time to honor Elaine Rose for her years of service and love she has given to TOS!
PRESCHOOL HAPPENINGS
Thanks to Elana Kriess and Hilary Daninhirsch for coordinating the Preschool Shabbat Dinner. The children sang beautifully and a good time was had by all.
The preschool welcomed Dina Liberman, a preschool director from Israel. Dina spent time in each classroom reading stories, playing finger games in Hebrew and teaching the children some Israeli dances. She brought gifts from Israel for the classrooms and children.
The preschool children made matzo with Rabbi Shmuly. They made their own dough, rolled it out and baked it in the oven. Each child got to take a sample home with them, if they didn’t eat it all up at preschool!
Liz Sender
Lifelong Learning and Youth News
Please fill out your school registration forms for next year!
New Kindergarten students should receive forms in the mail. Returning students receive registration forms in their mailbox. Please complete new 2008-09 forms and return them before this school year ends. Place them in the wall pockets by the education wing door. Thank you!
Last Day School Picnic….let’s celebrated at North Park from 12 – 2. Please contact us and let us know you can help plan the picnic!
No school Sunday, April 20 or Tuesday, April 22
Enjoy your Passover Break!
B’nai Mitzvah Workshop April 26, 9:30am
EXODUS
From Judaism for Dummies: Haggadah means “the telling,” referring to one of the most important aspects of the seder: the recitation of the Exodus story. ….It’s customary in any Jewish households to invite non-Jews to the Passover seder, and we find that frequently it’s the non-Jews at our seders who enjoy them the most. While the Jews are busy regressing into traumatic memories of their boring childhood seders, the non-Jews arrive with a clean slate and can really experience the ritual……..
In our gift shop, we have The Promise Haggadah which offers a one-hour Seder. Perfect for the young who don’t have a long attention span. If you want to “upgrade” your seder, consider “A Different Night: A Family Participation Haggadah” by David Dishon and Noam Zion. (There is a Leader’s Edition available to help plan out the seder ahead of time.) The authors are talented educators who understand the often diverse needs of those attending a seder; realizing that you can’t include every single special reading or interpretation and still have an enjoyable and enriching seder.
YOM HASHOAH
Every Saturday as we sit in shul, just before the mourner’s kaddish, we observe the yahrzeit of those who are no longer with us. And every week, the rabbi asks us to remember the 6 million Jews, who perished in the Holocaust. Although this is a ritual that we do every week, once a year, we put everything aside and put all of our heart and soul into remembering the victims of this horrific event. We call this day Yom Hashoah v’HaGevurah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Yom Hashoah v’HaGevurah, translated, “Day of Destruction and Heroism”, can be looked at as a day of memoriam. In fact in Israel at precisely 10 am, air-raid sirens go off and at that time, the whole country stops what it is doing regardless and pays tribute to the dead.
Yom Hashoah can also be seen as a “Day of Redemption or Salvation”. Although one can look at this day as a day of mourning, others can say that this is a day when all Jewish people become closer and stronger as a people. In these days when the persecution of Jews is still on the minds of extremists in the Middle East, the remembrance of the Holocaust and the on going strengthening of the Jewish people becomes more important everyday.
On Thursday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. Temple Ohav Shalom will be having a Yom Hashoah, Holocaust memorial program featuring keynote speaker Sister Camille, Principal from Vincentian Academy, who visited Poland and several of the concentration camps with members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community several years ago. In addition, the night will include a display of Holocaust projects by the religious school students, a processional into the Holocaust Memorial Garden, readings and prayers. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion.
WOMEN OF OHAV SHALOM
The WOS are looking for a few (at least one) good women to be leaders of WOS! Please contact Karen Savitz if you are interested. And if you are not a member, this is a good time enlist in our favorite women’s group of Temple Ohav Shalom. Contact Karen Savitz.
URJ Camping Program for Children on the Autism Spectrum
Two great camping experiences – one in Texas at “Camp Simcha” at URJ Greene Family Camp, Aug. 7th – August 10th and “Tzofim Camp” at URJ Kutz Camp in New York June 29 thru July 6th (14 – 18 years old) and July 9 thru July 13 (Campers 10 – 13 years old)
For more information email or
LIFE LONG LEARNING
CANCELED
assover Cooking with Efrat~~~ A fun “make and taste” program!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday, April 27thh Mah-Jongg 1-4:00PM Multi Purpose Room
Thursday, May 1st Yom HaShoah v’haGevurah-Day of Destruction & Heroism Holocaust Remembrance Day-Guest Speaker Sister Camille from Vicentian Academy
Sunday, May 4th 10:15AM Congregational Meeting-Multi-Purpose Room
Saturday, June 7th 2-5:00PM Regional Women of Reform Judaism Meeting—details to follow
SCHEDULE OF WORSHIP SERVICES FOR APRIL
Friday, April 18 Parashat Achrei Mot
7:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat
Rabbi Donsky & Shara Taylor
Saturday, April 19 14 Nissan, 5768
Erev Pesach
10:00 am Shabbat Morning
Rabbi Donsky & Elaine Rose
Friday, April 25 Pesach Last Day
7:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat
Rabbi Donsky & Bobbie Harley
Saturday, April 26 – 21 Nissan, 5768
9:30 am B’nai Mitzvah Breakfast & Workshop
10:00 am Shabbat Morning
Rabbi Donsky
Weekly Torah Sedra – Tazria – Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59 “He shall be unclean as long as the disease is found within him, he shall be unclean.” - LEVITICUS 13:46
This week’s parashah, Tazria, focuses upon ritual/spiritual uncleanness connected to the physical ailment that may have been Leprosy. (There is much scholarly debate about whether it was really Leprosy.)
From a traditional, close reading of the Torah text, there seems to be a superfluous phrase here. Why is it necessary to repeat the phrase “he is unclean”? Of course, as long as one has a disease, that person is considered unclean, and must be isolated in order not to spread the disease.
Each year as we come this part of the Book of Leviticus we may struggle with finding something relevant for our modern sensibilities. One commentator 19th century rabbi may help us in our struggle. The NETZIV (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin), Rosh Yeshiva of the famous Yeshiva of Volozhin in White Russia, 1817-1893. points out that one might assume that after the ceremony of ritual purification, one might be able to be considered pure, even though the disease is still present. No, he replies, of course not. As long as the disease is present, no ritual purification can help. It is primarily the disease that must be cured.
The NETZIV then applies this same principle to moral failures. Apologizing, repenting, and going through all the moral purification necessary is not enough, he argues, unless and until the failures are removed, and made up. Unless a person changes one’s character, and discontinues the mistake, it is useless to try to purify oneself through regret. This interpretation may not be the p’shat, plain meaning of the text, however, it does allow us a chance to find meaning in an otherwise ancient and arcane ritual. As our sages taught, “turn it [Torah] over and over, for everything is it.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Art Donsky
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8400 Thompson Run Road
Allison Park, PA 15101
(412) 369-0900
