Weekly E-Mail News, March 9, 2011
Congregation Beth Shalom
Location: 308 South B Street
Mailing address: c/o 200 West Washington
Fairfield, Iowa 52556
Become a Member: http://bethshalomfairfield.com/membership/
e-mail: bethshalomfairfield@gmail.com
website: http://bethshalomfairfield.com
This week’s highlights:
Shabbat services; Candle lighting times; New President of Jewish Club at MUM; Purim Potluck Sunday, March 20; Holocaust Survivors in Fairfield?; Thanks to Brenda and Ya’el; Recommended books;
Shabbat Services 8:00 p.m., Friday Evening, March 11 (5 Adar II)
Shabbat Services will begin at 8:00 p.m. at Beth Shalom on March 11, weather permitting.
Shabbat Candle Lighting Times for Fairfield
Shabbat (candle lighting) begins at 5:52 p.m. on Friday, March 11. Shabbat ends (Havdalah begins) Saturday, 6:52 p.m. in Fairfield.
Zachary Azeez, New President of the Jewish Club at M.U.M.
Congratulations to Zachary Azeez, who has assumed the Presidency of The Jewish Club at MUM.
As some of you may know, outgoing president, Kabuika Kamunga will be leaving at the end of March for 3 months. Zach Azeez has generously offered his time and service to the Jewish Club. He will act as the New President of the Jewish Club for this semester.
For more information and to volunteer, contact at Thejewishclub@yahoo.com, or find on Facebook: Jewishclub Atmum.
Jewish Club Members: If you would like to receive a weekly email update directly from the synagogue, let Ben Winkler, who is charge of that emailing, know at: Henry Benjamin Winkler <hbwink@gmail.com>.
The synagogue’s email keeps you updated on upcoming Jewish holidays as well as interesting bits about Jewish life.
Purim Potluck Sunday, March 20 at the Swartz’s
Fred and Janet Swartz have graciously offered their house, at 3410 West Van Buren, as the location for the upcoming Purim Holiday, at 12:30 p.m., March 20th. We plan to have a Megillah Reading (by native Hebrew speakers Sheer-el Cohen and Shai Perelson) and Vegetarian Potluck there. Come in Costume! Bring your favorite dish or Hamantashen!
Please RSVP by contacting the Beth Shalom administrative office at: bethshalomfairfield@gmail.com, so that we can get a count and an idea of what the menu will be.
Directions to Purim Party at Swartz’s, (3410 West Van Buren Ave.):
From downtown Fairfield,
1. Go West on Burlington Ave. (Bus. 34) toward Ottumwa
2. Turn LEFT (south) on 32nd Street (going past Best Western, John Deere, and just before Fesler’s Auto Dealership).
3. Take 1st RIGHT onto West Madison Ave.
4. Take a LEFT at the “T” (33rd St.)
5. Take the 2nd RIGHT onto West Van Buren Ave., and follow to the end. Stop at the white fence! Beige house, big garage and carport. #3410 on house.
Holocaust Survivors in Iowa?
We received this request from our friend, Joyce Cohen, a regular contributor to our Fairfield Jewish Community News:
Do you have any contacts who have survived the Holocaust? I am working on a public television production based on the Chestnut tree which fell in Amsterdam in August 2010. It is a 150 yr. old tree and was visible from the window Anne Frank wrote of in the Diary. I used to live in Fairfield, Iowa and presently live in Crossville/Fairfield Glade, TN. The PBS station is in Cookeville, TN and a local master wood craftsman has been designated to receive some of the wood to produce sculptures which will be on display in public buildings or museums. My phone is 931-707-1572 and my address is 131 Cromwell Lane, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Thank you, Joyce H. Cohen, joycecohen01@comcast.net
Thanks
Thanks to Brenda Pollack and Yael Ya’ar, for helping to prepare for burial a recently deceased Jewish woman from Ottumwa.
According to Jewish tradition, Brenda and Yael performed the rechitza (washing) and tahara (purifying).
Yael wrote:
I went with Brenda, and helped. I had read about this preparation of the body, but had never done it.
It was very very moving, and I recommend it to you all… we could use another strong female, especially.
It was the most powerful spiritual thing that I’ve experienced in a long time.
Books on Life, Death and Afterlife
Here are a some books on the aging and dying process, recommended by Yael Ya’ar:
A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If it Were Your Last by Stephen Levine (Very good!)
Who Dies? An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying by Stephen and Ondrea Levine
Mourning and Mitzvah: A Guided Journal for Walking the Mourner’s Path Through Grief to Healing, by Anne Brener
Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical ethics by Elliot Dorff
So That Your Values Live On: Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them by Jack Reimer (He has more books on the topic)
From Age-ing to Sage-ing by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi
Last Breath: A Guide to Easing Another’s Dying by Rami Shapiro
Does the Soul Survive? A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife, Past Lives and Living with Purpose by Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz
Jewish Views of the Afterlife, by Simcha Paull Raphael