July 26th, 2014 - 28th of Tamuz, 5774 
  BJC Logo Purple  
BJC photo
Candlelighting - 8:30 pm
Havdalah - 9:30 pm
Parent Meeting:
3 Yr- 1st Grade
Tuesday, July 29th, 7:30 pm

In response to the yearnings you've expressed over the past year (and longer) for rich and meaningful Jewish learning, in community, for your children at Beth Jacob on shabbat mornings, we are creating a new program of Jewish learning and exploration, including Hebrew language, for some of our community's youngest learners, children age three in September through beginning first grade.
 
We have come to a wonderful next step in implementing our vision for our children's Jewish learning at Beth Jacob: It is time to meet as parents to reinforce our big picture with specific details about our children's education next year, and to hear from you about what will inspire your family to jump in.

We're meeting at Beth Jacob this Tuesday, to share the plans and schedule for the upcoming school year, and to think together about the kinds of learning that will allow our children, full of imagination, to explore the Jewish tradition that is so welcoming of their questions. Please join us! 
 
ktanim_shab
Ktanim Logo K'tanim Friday Night:
East and West
This Friday, July 25 
Shabbat CandlesKid-friendly kabbalat shabbat, followed by relaxed vegetarian potluck dinner

East: 
5 pm (or whenever you can get there!)
at Rabbi Emma, Benj and Otto's
(1045 Douglas Rd. in Mendota Heights)
RSVP in this spreadsheet with what you're bringing.

West:
6 pm at Tamar, Daniel, Orly and Tova's 
(4713 Chowen Ave S. in Minneapolis)
RSVP to Tamar: [email protected] 
Retreat
Beth Jacob Retreat
Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 29-31

 

Yes! On Labor Day Weekend, Beth Jacob returns to its retreatful roots with an inter-generational, family friendly retreat at Camp Chi/Perlstein Resort Center in the Wisconsin Dells. The Retreat Committee is hard at work making wonderful inter-active, inter-esting, inter-taining plans! Prices start at $90 per person all inclusive!

 

Register (or get more info) at Beth-Jacob.org/Retreat.

  

Questions? Contact Frances Fischer.

OZY
This Week!
O.Z.Y.
O.Z.Y.* in the Summer! Mark your calendar for singing in harmony this summer:
 
July 26, and August 9
After Kiddush at 12:45 pm in rooms 4/5. 
 
Everyone truly is welcome!  Sing to praise G-d, to open your heart, to make something beautiful together, or all of the above. The focus is on liturgical songs with harmony, chants, rounds, and niggunim. 
 
Please volunteer to lead a song or make a song request a week and a half ahead of the date, so Aaron Hodge Silver, our songbook designer, can get it ready. Questions, comments, requests, and to VOLUNTEER TO LEAD A SONG, call or e-mail Pam Winthrop Lauer: [email protected], 952-432-7038. 
 
Childcare will be available.
 
*Ozi v'Zimrat Yah = G-d is my Strength and my Song.
 hike
 Just Another Hike 
20s-30s Logo
July 27, 9 am - 1 pm

Join the BJC 20s/30s group for an easy 2-3 hour hike in the rolling foresty areas of the park. No clambering, climbing, or leaping will be required.

BRING: Bring comfortable shoes and water! Recommended: sunscreen, trail snacks, a hat. Dogs welcome.

LUNCH: A potluck picnic in the park after the hike.

Check out the FB Event for more info! 
Game_day
After Kiddush! Bring your favorite games!
 Bike
 Bike Through History
Sunday, August 3rd, 10 am

Join us for a bike ride through Minneapolis' historical Jewish Northside.  We'll be meeting at at the Sumner Library , then proceed to numerous Jewish sites scattered through the neighborhood. Linda Schloff will be revealing each site's history at the many stops along the way.  The outing will last approximately 2 hours.

 

Bike helmets are required.
Hope to see you there!
TBA
Hebrew
 Alef-Bet Hebrew Class
THIS ROSH HASHANAH,
PRAY IN THE ORIGINAL!  
 
Learn to decode the Hebrew alphabet and read the prayers in the original.

Hebrew Alphabet
Five Sunday morning sessions:
Aug. 17, 24; Sept. 7, 14, 21
10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

Lisa Hoff will teach. Contact her for more information: [email protected]

There is no charge for this class. 
 Anne_Frank
 Post-Kiddush Learning 
What We Talk About When We
Talk About Anne Frank
by Nathan Englander
 
  August 16 after kiddush

Copies of 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank' are in the Beth Jacob office for borrowing.
 
All are welcome to talk about these stories and Nathan Englander's observations about contemporary Jewish life.

Cynthia Freedman will lead the discussion.
Wheels

Shalom from Boise!

USY on Wheels These past couple weeks have been crazy and jam-packed with amazing, fun activities and sights. We started in Houston to visit the Johnson Space Center where we sat in the actual room where "Houston, we have a problem" got solutions! It was surreal. After Houston, we took to Dallas to visit Cowboys Stadium which was gargantuan and awesome in both size and spectacle. USY on Wheels Following Dallas, we drove northwest to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City is a wonderful wheels stop because you see both fun and traumatic sites. We started fun at the world's only osteology museum, then our trip took a serious turn and we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. It is an intense experience to say the least. Seeing kids who were not even alive when this tragedy occurred visibly shaken and moved by the experience of walking through the memorial is quite moving in itself. In my opinion, it is one of the most important stops on wheels because that museum, which is world class, brings together the bus through a shared, trying experience again over a piece of history these youth had not previously known anything about.

 

Next, we were off to Amarillo for America's second biggest canyon at Elkins Ranch for Jeep tours and finally got around to doing our laundry. We also visited the famous Cadillac Ranch to spray paint the cars sticking out of the ground. After Amarillo was Albuquerque where we visited Old Town and the ever-popular Hinkle Family Fun Center where we rode go karts and played laser tag into the night. We also were hosted by the lovely conservative shul there for a delicious chicken dinner. USY on Wheels Next was Arizona, where we visited the Grand Canyon and davened a beautiful sunrise shacharit service overlooking the natural wonder, before taking a hike down. We spent Shabbat in Phoenix, but not before visiting the Musical Instrument Museum where our bus led the entire museum, including patrons, tour guides, the kitchen crew, store clerks, and even security guards in sing-alongs accompanied by one of our wheelniks on their foyer piano. An older gentleman with Parkinson's Disease befriended a few of our kids and communicated through his wife that along with a visit to the Kotel last year for his final hurrah as a physically able man, this was the most moving experience he has had in his older age. He has remained in email correspondence with our staff ever since.

USY on Wheels After that incredible experience was a trip to my favorite wheels stop, Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch, where we fed goats, ducks, deer, donkeys, prairie dogs, lorikeets, and of course, ostriches, as well as rode on a monster truck! Next was the wonderful San Diego zoo before Los Angeles, where all of the different Wheels trips meet up for three days. I got to see our very own Lexi Foman and Michael Stiefel Alperin there! USY on Wheels Together, we took on Disneyland and Universal Studios, Beit Teshuvah rehab center, Museum of Tolerance, and Santa Monica Pier. We also got together for a dance. Then we were off to San Francisco for another restful and fun Shabbat.

 

The next week began in San Francisco, starting with a moving shacharit experience on Ocean Beach, followed by a romp through Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square. We then went Shabbat shopping and had a lovely and restful weekend of prayer and reflection. From San Francisco, we headed north to the Jelly Belly factory tour where we learned the history of the gourmet jelly bean and taste tested so so so many delicious flavors. From there we went to majestic Crater Lake national park where we davened mincha overlooking the crystal blue water.

 

Our next day was spent venturing further north into Oregon, to an alpaca farm where we got to meet 19 new baby alpacas. It was incredible. I purchased a yarmulke made of alpaca wool that I can't wait to wear. Next, it was off to Portland. The group did laundry in an amazing, eco-friendly laundromat which turned out to be the owner and operator's graduate thesis, as she explained to the group. That night, the staff went out to the famous Voodoo Doughnuts to get bakers dozens for the kids. They were worth the wait and the late night. From Portland, we headed back east for the first time all summer, to Boise, Idaho. We went to the movies last night and are currently headed to Yellowstone National Park. 

 

See you there,
Ben

Beth Jacob Info:

 

Calendar

 
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TOC
In This Issue:
(Click Link to Jump
Directly to Article)
JIP
This Week!
Jew in the Pew
Torah
With Rabbi Lynn Liberman

 

Shabbat mornings, 9:15-10 AM

July 12, 26

 

Join Rabbi Lynn Liberman to discuss the weekly Torah portion through the lens of thought-provoking commentaries.
Minyank_Katan Minyan Katan Logo
 
 

10:45 - 11:30 am

 

Minyan Katan is a joyful, playful shabbat morning service for kids birth-kindergarten with their grownups.  All are welcome! 

 

1st & 3rd Sat. of the Month

Next Meetings:

July 5, 19 

 _________________________________

 

Click link above for more info! 

BJ3Fri
3rd Shabbat


Monthly Shabbat Potluck Dinner
at Beth Jacob
 
Fri., July 18th

 

6:00 pm: Lively, Songful Kabbalat Shabbat Services

 

7:00 pm: Vegetarian Potluck Shabbat Dinner

CTBIS
Summer Shabbat Youth Programming
Our kids are always welcome in shul, to join in the praying, singing and learning, to sit and read, to play quietly between the pews in our sanctuary, to be part of the community.

Youth tefillah and playful learning will continue all summer!

Kids up to K:
  • 9:15 am Nursery open
  • 10:45 am (1st and 3rd) Snack and Minyan Katan
Kids K-6:
  • 10:10 am (or so) Youth tefillah ... begins just after the Torah parade
  • 11 am Snack and Playful learning
July 12, 19 & 26
August 2, 9, 16 & 23
Adult_Jewish_Learning
Adult Jewish Learning 

  

 

 
Monday Night Talmud Class
With Rabbi Allen

7:00 Pre-learning Schmooze and Munch

7:15 Class Begins

   

Study the words and thoughts of Rabbinic tradition as a living text in our modern world.  

 

  

 

Open Torah

Parashat HaShavuah: Tuesday Afternoons

With Rabbi Allen - 3-4:00 pm
Study of this week's Torah portion.   

   

 
Bagels
Bracha and Bagel: Wednesday Mornings
With Rabbi Kippley-Ogman after Minyan
  Our learning chug (circle) meets for half an hour over breakfast, digging into rabbinic text related to the cycle of the Jewish year.



Torah Jew in the Pew: Saturday Mornings
With Rabbi Lynn Liberman - 9:15-10 am

July 12, 26

Join Rabbi Lynn Liberman to discuss the weekly Torah portion through the lens of thought-provoking commentaries.
Community Events
For our full Community Events calendar, click here
Israel_Event
JCRC Israel
AJW
PJ
PJ Library
TTSP

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651-452-2226  |  [email protected]  |  www.beth-jacob.org