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This Week At Beth Or

Your guide to upcoming programs,  
activities and news 

October 28, 2014
   red-fall-leaves-banner.jpg
  

 

 "Like" the Temple Beth Or Facebook Page at

 

www.facebook.com/BethOrMiami     

 

...and be sure to "check-in" on your mobile device when you are at the Temple, and add your comments about services and events that you attend at Beth Or!

  
In This Issue
 
 

Rabbi
Mark Kram   
 
 
 
 
D'Var Torah
  
  
November 1, 2014 
 
Genesis 14:1 - 15:21 
(using the Triennial Year 2 calendar)
 
Haftarah

Isaiah 40:27 - 41:16  
 
 
 
 
 
Beth Or Links

Our Website 

Board Of Directors 

Committees 



Other Links




Contact:

Kathy Fisler 
bethortemple@aol.com
 
305-235-1419
 
Office Hours:
Tuesday  10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday: Noon - 3:00 pm.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
 
What's Happening This Week at Temple Beth Or
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Tuesday, October 28

Wednesday, October 29   
Chit Chat 10:00 a.m.      
Thursday, October 30  
Weight Watchers Meeting 10:00 a.m.

Friday, October 31 
"This Is Not A Halloween Candlelight
     Shabbat Service"  8:00 p.m.
 
Saturday,  November 1

Sunday,  November 2   
Little-Known Jews class with
     Norma Salz  10:30 a.m.

Monday, November 3    
  
Tuesday, November 4    
 
Wednesday, November 5         
Chit Chat  10:00 a.m.
  
Thursday, November 6
Weight Watchers  10:00 a.m. 
  
Friday, November 7
New Member Recognition Shabbat
 
  
 
  
star
 Temple Beth Or 
 Events 
 
Save the Date!  

mark your calendar


November 9
Little Known Jews program with
   Norma Salz  
Red Tent Women's Reading Group 
 
Saturday, November 8 
Italian Potluck Night and a  Movie 
 
November 17, and
     December 1 
Book Discussion:
My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit

November 22
Beth Or's Global Day of Jewish Learning
 
December 7 
Holiday Bazaar 
community noticeTemple Beth Or
Community Notices
  
Shabbat Shalomshabbat shalom

Friday, October 31

8:00 p.m. to (midnight? -- just kidding!) 

"This Is Not A Halloween Candlelight
Shabbat Service!"

led by Jeff Kaminsky. 

An examination of Jewish Beliefs concerning Magic and Superstition, based on the writings of Joshua Trachtenberg...Demons, Angels, etc.

Please bring your own Shabbat Cancles to light! 
 
Thank You, Thank You,
to those who have generously donated to Temple Beth Or...

Glenn Patron, for replacing the tired old mouse and keyboard for the office computer, and for providing the Quickbooks Non-Profit edition to which we are gradually converting our bookkeeping processes.


Italian Potluck and Movie Night
italain-food-items.jpg
Saturday, November 8, 6:15 p.m. for dinner, followed by a movie -- title to be announced -- at 7:30.  Yep, we'll have the popcorn!

A nominal donation (amount to be decided) will be asked to cover the cost of paper goods, tableware, drinks and coffee, and cleanup. 

For carb-phobes, it's time to head for the cookbooks and see what vegetarian non-pasta dishes can be made into main dish fare.

Either call the Temple office or email with what you're going to bring.
waving-italian-flag.jpg

Red Tent Women's Reading Group

 

The Red Tent will meet next at Janie Emerson's home on November 9 at 1:00 p.m. to discuss Orphan Train.


Little-Known Jews
  
...winds up this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
                                        
Our very own Norma Salz concludes a three-part education program on Little-Known Jews on November 2.


The third and last talk about

Jews You Never Heard Of! 

 

 

This third talk will be about the early days of the Jewish Community in the Lower East Side of New York City.  It will end with Yiddish words you may know and songs of that period.  The fourth talk has been cancelled. I hope to see you all there -- Norma 

 


Please leave a voicemail at the Temple or email bethortemple@aol.com.    You don't need to be able to attend all four sessions, but we'd love it it you can.  We just need a general idea of how many to expect.

This educational series is being presented at no charge to Temple members.

Beth Or Annual Holiday Bazaar
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Our bazaar is filling up nicely!

 

We have some wonderful new vendors and are looking for a few more, one selling Mexican pottery and a women's clothing vendor.  

 

If you know of someone interested in attending, please have them contact Rhoni at 305-253-4155 or April at 305-667-9616.  

 

We are NOT  accepting anymore jewelry vendors. Please mark your calendars for December 7, 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m.

 

Flyers are available for you to post in condo or apartment bulletin boards, to give out to groups, or to ask the businesses you patronize to post in their windows.   

 


My Promised Land
by Ari Shavit

A Temple Beth Or Book Discussion, led by Rabbi Mark Kram, to meeto on Monday, November 17, and Monday, December 1.

Note: Author Ari Shavit will be at Temple Beth Am, 5950 N. Kendall Drive, on Thursday, October 30, at 7:30 p.m.  Please contact Rebecca Leibowitz, South Dade Director for AIPAC, at 954-382-6110 or RLeibowitz@aipac.org for more information.  Advance registration is required for the event at Temple Beth Am.


Excerpt from the book's summary on Amazon.com:

"We meet Shavit's great-grandfather, a British Zionist who in 1897 visited the Holy Land on a Thomas Cook tour and understood that it was the way of the future for his people; the idealist young farmer who bought land from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s to grow the Jaffa oranges that would create Palestine's booming economy; the visionary youth group leader who, in the 1940s, transformed Masada from the neglected ruins of an extremist sect into a powerful symbol for Zionism; the Palestinian who as a young man in 1948 was driven with his family from his home during the expulsion from Lydda; the immigrant orphans of Europe's Holocaust, who took on menial work and focused on raising their children to become the leaders of the new state; the pragmatic engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel's nuclear program in the 1960s, in the only interview he ever gave; the zealous religious Zionists who started the settler movement in the 1970s; the dot-com entrepreneurs and young men and women behind Tel-Aviv's booming club scene; and today's architects of Israel's foreign policy with Iran, whose nuclear threat looms ominously over the tiny country.
 
As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today's global political landscape."

The book is available for purchase through Amazon and other sources and is also available at the Miami-Dade Public Library. 
 
Global Day of Jewish Learning, Beth Or Style
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Beth Or's participation in the Global Day of Jewish Learning program will take place on Saturday, November 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.


We'll have a lunch provided for $7.00 per person.  Please let us know in the Temple office if you will participate, and if you'll join us for lunch.   305-235-1419 or bethortemple@aol.com 

gardening-bucket.jpg Green Stuff!

Beth Or's  ORGANIC  GARDEN 
ontinues to grow!

 

Put the 'Or' in 'Organic"

 

 

 

Beth Or's
Minipark is the mulched area between the gravel parking lot and our main building.  Still under construction, it

provides safe passage walkways from parking lot to building on a mulch bed instead of rough terrain, tree roots and encroaching vegetation.

Watch for additional improvements as we add sitting area, etc.~ House & Grounds

 

 

 

Certified Florida Master Gardeners Wilfredo and Candy Candelaria will support

Beth Or's Organic Garden and Campus Edibles Program for 2014-15.

They will help train volunteers and provide education for Green Thumb congregants

who want to practice organic, sustainable vegetable, fruit and medicinal cultivation.

Watch for opportunities to cultivate your own plot at Beth Or or help our next communal crops of:  bananas, papayas, other edibles, herbs and medicianals!

 

We're also submitting a grant proposal to improve the irrigation for many edibles on campus!

  

Do's and Don'ts:

  • Don't step on a bed. Your weight compresses the soil, reducing "friability." 
  • If you don't know what to do, ASK!
  • Learn as much as you can about organic-veganic methods- Rodale's magazine is a good resource

Check out this site:  Derek Fellows Grows 

 

Kavanah by Rabbi Mark  "...to help build up our people, our institutions and our strength so that we continue to l'takein olam b'malchut Shaddai, 'repair the world under the kingdom of heaven.'  Let's get our hands deliciously "dirty" in this endeavor as we grow and sustain our beloved community."

 

 

Story:  We are Shomrei Adamah, Guardians of the Earth or Keepers of the Garden of Eden.  To start off we will be practical and do whatever works- but we aspire to the highest standards of earth ethics summarized by Organic/Veganic Gardening. We will carefully select the veggies and herbs to maximize output, balanced cultivatino, companion planting, insect control, etc. With today's high prices for quality veggies and herbs, a garden is economically desirable.  Plus it is part of a healthy lifestyle, good education, and a social communal experience.  All those with green (or any color) thumbs are welcome to cultivate with us.

 

 

Weight Watchers at Beth Or  

Weight Watchers continues its meeting series on Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m. at Beth Or.
 
New members should arrive at about 9:45 and enter by the back door at the top of the ramp.


For more information, please contact Ilien Hechtman at ilienh@aol.com 

 

Chit Chat  
Chit Chat meets on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 at the Temple. 

We've picked up several interesting articles from reputable sources -- BBC News and the New York Times among them -- and we're ready to launch into topics of local, national and international interest with a distinctly Jewish approach.  We talk about cultural, legal, educational, social, political, religious and secular subjects, with a text usually from the media to start us off.
 
There's always room for more, so please don't hesitate.  If you're available, so are we.
If you want to be included on the Chit Chat email list, please contact Mike Leslie at hebrewnatl@aol.com.
   
TBO Members' Page

Break a Leg, Marcy and Butch!
 

Marcy Prince and Butch Falgiatore are appearing in Little Shop of Horrors at the Murray Nelson Government and Cultural Center, Mile Marker 102, Key Largo, opening October 31. 

 

Please click on www.debpro.me

for more show and ticket information.  This is Marcy's first retirement venture -- Mazel Tov!

 

 

Mah Jongg Lessons

 

Mah Jongg Lessons are offered by TBO member Sharon Abramson in 4-week sessions, consisting of 1 hour of instruction and 2 hours of supervised pay for each session.

  

Please contact Sharon Abramson for more information.

  

A minimum of 8 students is needed for class (2 Tables).  Sign-ups must be made at the beginning of each series of sessions in order to insure continuity in the instruction and practice.  If you miss the start of one series, it will be necessary to wait the the start of the next series.

 

A Mah Jongg Card is required to play.  Please contact Sharon if you do not have a card.

 

A Mah Jongg set will be needed per group of four players.  Sharon has one, however, additional sets will be needed for each table.

 

 

Notes will be provided and presented in instructional structure; once you are familiar with the concepts, you'll start to play.

 

Suggested day and time of meetings: Thursday afternoon from 3 pm. to 6 p.m.  

 

There will be no charge to Temple members, and the cost to non-members will be $5 per meeting. 

 

 

 

In and For Our Local Community

 

Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges


October 5, 2014 - January 11, 2015 
at the Coral Gables Museum

Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow

tells the story of Jewish academics from Germany and Austria who were dismissed from their teaching positions in the 1930s. After fleeing to America, some refugee scholars found positions at historically black colleges and universities in the Jim Crow South. The exhibition explores what it meant to the students to have these new staff as part of their community, how the students were affected by their presence, and what life was like for white, European Jews teaching at black colleges and universities. The exhibit looks at the empathy between two minority groups with a history of persecution, some of whom came together in search of freedom and opportunity, and shared the early years of struggle in the Civil Rights movement.

 

For more information, go to www.coralgablesmuseum.org  click on Events, then Upcoming Events, or call 305-603-8067.