What's Going On - October 2019

RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

Shanah Tovah! שנה טובה!

Religious school is in full gear and off to a great start! Teachers and students are all settled in!

On our first day we started a giant Moshe-ic (Mosaic) Menorah created with colorful cardstock decorated with our students artwork. We will be continuing this project throughout the school year until our giant menorah is complete.

Please make note that Sunday, October 13th Religious school will be starting in the afternoon at 4:00 pm to have our students decorate the Sukkah before we all join in for our Sukkot celebration at Temple starting at 6:00 pm with a Pot Luck dinner to follow! Please bring a kosher style dish to share!

CBI Religious School wishes everyone a Happy and Sweet New Year & Wonderful High Holidays!

Shalom,
Odelia Rios, Religious School Lead Teacher

October Sunday School Schedule
10/6/19   Hebrew school 9:00 - 10:15 am; Religious school 10:30 - 12:30 pm
10/13/19   Religious school 4:00 pm Sukkah decorating Sukkot Services at 6:00 pm and Pot Luck Dinner to follow!
10/20/19   Hebrew school 9:00 - 10:15 am; Religious school 10:30 - 12:30 pm
10/27/19   Hebrew school 9:00 - 10:15 am; Religious school 10:30 - 12:30 pm

HIGH HOLIDAY APPEAL

The High Holy Days are here. It is a time for introspection, healing and renewal. It is also a time when more of us will gather together to pray than at any other time during the year. Unfortunately, in this day and age, that is also cause for concern. While there is no evidence of a threat, not even a whisper, we must prepare as if there was, and that is why we will have an armed off duty C.C.P.D. officer at the Temple during each service. This is not enough. Last spring, we hired a consultant to assess the physical security of the temple and make recommendations regarding upgrading our security. Our consultant provided us with a 36 page report that included numerous recommendations on how to make our building safer.

The Board of Trustees has prioritized the following improvements to start the process:
Installing bollards at appropriate entrances,
Installing impact resistant film on our glass doors and windows,
Replacing several exterior doors and installing door jamming devices,
Updating our video surveillance system,
Hiring off duty C.C.P.D. officers for other events throughout the year, and training and providing non-lethal options to congregant volunteers to assist with security.

These improvements are expensive, and we need your help to pay for them. On behalf of your Board of Trustees, we are appealing to everyone to consider contributing towards the safety and security of our Congregation. Last year our Congregation very generously responded to our request for funds and we hope each and every one of you can help us meet our goal for this year’s project.

SUKKOT POTLUCK DINNER

Join us for a potluck community dinner
following Sukkot Services.

Congregation Beth Israel
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Sukkot Service at 6pm.

There is a sign up sheet for the
Potluck dinner at CBI.
Contact Mari-Ka Randolph
if you have any questions.

FOOD FEST

COMING TO MAILBOX NEAR YOU!

The 34th Annual Food Fest is just around the corner. You can almost smell the brisket, taste the rugelach and listen to the sounds of the Klezmer band. For many years, Sisterhood has held a raffle and asked you to purchase tickets. I know, you dread that envelope in your mailbox… So, we would like to try something new for Food Fest 2019.

This year, we are not having the same ol’ RAFFLE. In other words, no filling out multiple stubs, no bugging your friends and family to buy tickets, no winning of a gift you may not have wanted, you simply have to write a check. As an added incentive, the first 5 names drawn, winners will each receive a RING doorbell and a NEST home. Easy and fun!

We plan to publish all the names of those playing our new “RAFFLE” to show their generosity…. So hurry up and send in your check. Send by October 20th to be included in the November bulletin.

GROSSMAN FILM SERIES TO DEBUT IN JANUARY

Thanks to the generosity of our late member, Harvey Grossman, we are delighted to announce the first HARVEY GROSSMAN JEWISH FILM SERIES.

On Sunday, January 26, 2020, the first film of the series will be ‘MY SO-CALLED ENEMY.” This award-winning Israeli film follows six Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls as they participate in a cross-cultural leadership program. The film documents how the transformative experience of knowing their “enemies” as human beings meets with the realities of their lives in the Middle East. The creation of new relationships across emotional, ideological, religious and physical boundaries becomes the first steps toward resolving conflict.

Two weeks later, on Sunday, February 9, 2020, we shall screen a film entitled ROSENWALD. Julius Rosenwald was the Jewish financier and leader in Chicago who took a foundering little company established by Richard Sears and made it into America’s premier catalogue and brick-and-mortar emporium. His management and merchandising genius made Sears, Roebuck an American household icon. But what is remarkable about Rosenwald’s story is the surprising use to which he put a large portion of his fortune. You may be amazed to learn how this member of Chicago’s German-Jewish elite exemplified the most precious Jewish values in the use of his money.

Finally, on Sunday, February 23, 2020, we shall enjoy two very funny comedies. The first of these is A MATTER OF SIZE. We shouldn’t need to tell you more than to disclose that this film is about four very overweight Israeli men who come up with the idea of an Israeli Sumo wrestling team. You’ll laugh out-loud, as we did, at the dialogue between these men and their families. This film will be followed by the hilarious comedy, DOUGH. It’s about a Hasidic challah baker who needs an assistant. He hires a boy from East Africa who turns out to be Moslem. They aren’t exactly getting along until the lad drops his pouch of pot into the dough. Suffice it to say, as the dough rises, the business, its owners and its customers go from one high to the next. You’ll leave the screening of these two films with a pain in your side from laughing!

Each of these screenings is open to the public without charge and will be held in the Auditorium of the Art Museum of South Texas at the north end of Shoreline Blvd. Plan to save all three dates and join us at the movies.