Book Discussion: Glikl: Memoirs 1691-1719 by Glikl and editor/translators (Thu, Jan 21)

This book discussion is sponsored by our Hadassah discussion group.

About Glikl: Memoirs 1691-1719 (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry)  by Glikl,  Chava Turniansky (Editor, Introduction), Sara Friedman (Translator)

(Available via paperback, hardcover, and Kindle)

From the Publisher:

“My dear children, I write this for you in case your dear children or grandchildren come to you one of these days, knowing nothing of their family. For this reason I have set this down for you here in brief, so that you might know what kind of people you come from.”

These words from the memoirs Glikl bas Leib wrote in Yiddish between 1691 and 1719 shed light on the life of a devout and worldly woman. Writing initially to seek solace in the long nights of her widowhood, Glikl continued to record the joys and tribulations of her family and community in an account unique for its impressive literary talents and strong invocation of self. Through intensely personal recollections, Glikl weaves stories and traditional tales that express her thoughts and beliefs. While influenced by popular Yiddish moral literature, Glikl’s frequent use of first person and the significance she assigns her own life experience set the work apart. Informed by fidelity to the original Yiddish text, this authoritative new translation is fully annotated to explicate Glikl’s life and times, offering readers a rich context for appreciating this classic work.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Glikl's Memoirs. 

Time:  Thursday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. Central 

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Book Discussion: Waking Lions by Gundar-Goshen (Sun, Feb 7)

 

(Available via paperback, hardcover, Kindle, & audiobook)

About Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

From the Publisher:

After one night's deadly mistake, a man will go to any lengths to save his family and his reputation.

Neurosurgeon Eitan Green has the perfect life -- married to a beautiful police officer and father of two young boys. Then, speeding along a deserted moonlit road after an exhausting hospital shift, he hits someone. Seeing that the man, an African migrant, is beyond help, he flees the scene.

When the victim's widow knocks at Eitan's door the next day, holding his wallet and divulging that she knows what happened, Eitan discovers that her price for silence is not money. It is something else entirely, something that will shatter Eitan's safe existence and take him into a world of secrets and lies he could never have anticipated.

Waking Lions is a gripping, suspenseful, and morally devastating drama of guilt and survival, shame and desire from a remarkable young author on the rise.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an interesting discussion of Gundar-Goshen's book Waking Lions.

Time:  Sunday, February 7, at 3:00 p.m. Central 

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Book Discussion: Wandering Dixie (Sun, Nov 15)

 

(Available via paperback and Kindle)

About Wandering Dixie: Dispatches from the Lost Jewish South by Sue Eisenfeld

From the Publisher:

Sue Eisenfeld is a Yankee by birth, a Virginian by choice, an urbanite who came to love the rural South, a Civil War buff, and a nonobservant Jewish woman. In Wandering Dixie, she travels to nine states, uncovering how the history of Jewish southerners converges with her personal story and the region’s complex, conflicted present. In the process, she discovers the unexpected ways that race, religion, and hidden histories intertwine.

From South Carolina to Arkansas, she explores the small towns where Jewish people once lived and thrived. She visits the site of her distant cousin and civil rights activist Andrew Goodman’s murder during 1964’s Freedom Summer. She also talks with the only Jews remaining in some of the “lost” places, from Selma to the Mississippi Delta to Natchitoches, and visits areas with no Jewish community left—except for an old temple or overgrown cemetery. Eisenfeld follows her curiosity about Jewish Confederates and casts an unflinching eye on early southern Jews’ participation in slavery. Her travels become a journey of revelation about our nation’s fraught history and a personal reckoning with the true nature of America.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Sue Eisenfeld's book Wandering Dixie.

Time:  Sunday, November 15, at 3:00 p.m. Central 

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Reminders leading up to Yom Kippur (beginning Sun, Sep 27)

Please join our Yom Kippur services with Rabbi Kalfus via Zoom; as always, no tickets required. Visit the schedule for times. 

(And join us before then for Friday services—Zoom only this week—and Torah study on Saturday.)

Rabbi Kalfus and Phyllis Meyers are looking forward to seeing you on Yom Kippur, as are other members of the community. Everyone will see your camera's view if you join with video, and we hope you do! However, we know the day is long and that not everyone can fast. If you eat, please remember to turn off your camera to make the fast easier for those who are fasting.

Shana Tova! 

Book Discussion via Zoom: Cut Me Loose by Leah Vincent (Sun, Oct 18)

Cut Me Loose

(Available via paperback, hardcover, Kindle, audiobook, and MP3 CD)

About CutMe Loose: Sinand Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood by Leah Vincent

From the Publisher:

For fans of the television series Unorthodox and Shtisel, this brutally honest memoir tells the story of one woman’s quest todefine herself as an individual. Leah Vincent was born into the Yeshivish community, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect. As the daughter of an influential rabbi, she was taught to worship two things: God, and the men who ruled their society. 

Then, at sixteen, Leah was caught exchanging letters with a boy, violating religious law that forbids contact between members of the opposite sex. Shunned by her family, she was cast out of her home, alone and adrift in New York City, unprepared for the freedoms of secular life and unaccustomed to the power and peril inherent in her own sexuality. Fast-paced, harrowing, mesmerizing, and ultimately triumphant, Leah's story illuminates both the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism and the broader issues facing young women of all backgrounds.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Leah Vincent's book Cut Me Loose.

Time:  Sunday, October 18, at 3:00 p.m. Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Ed Fellow Margo Wagner leading services (Fri, Aug 28)

 On Friday, join us for services with Margo Wagner, our Education Fellow from the ISJL*. 

*Education Fellow Margo Wagner is from Colorado and has worked since May 2019 as an Education Fellow with The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL), which "supports, connects, and celebrates Jewish life in the South."

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Rabbi Sim leading services and Torah study this weekend (beginning Fri, Aug 21)

On Friday, join us for services with Rabbi Caroline Sim, Director of Rabbinical ​Services at the ISJL*. 

On Saturday, join us for Torah study led by Rabbi Sim. 

Rabbi Sim of the ISJL

*Rabbi Caroline Sim was ordained in 2020 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, on the historic Cincinnati campus. Before beginning her rabbinical studies, she earned a Graduate Certificate in Judaic Studies from the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, French Language, and European Studies from the Ohio State University. 

Rabbi Sim feels a deep commitment for bringing access to Judaism to all Jews, wherever they are located and whatever the size of their community. She has served as student rabbi for many congregations in varying regions, and also served the wider Cincinnati Jewish community through being an educator at Temple Sholom, and a lecture organizer at the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati. When at home, Rabbi Sim enjoys pursuing her artistic interests, including painting and drawing. She is also in the process of becoming a Soferet, a female Hebrew Scribe.

She recently began working as the Director of Rabbinical Services at the The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL), which "supports, connects, and celebrates Jewish life in the South."

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Proactive Parents: Planning for Positive Change (Thurs, Aug 13)

Parents of school-aged children, please join us on Zoom (see email) to discuss being proactive in an age with rising anti-Semitism and bias activities. 

When: Thurs, Aug 13, 5:00 p.m. 

Where: Zoom (check your email for a direct link)

What: Information about actions already at work and planned; questions and conversation 

Why: Anti-Semitism and bias crime have risen across the country, including in schools. Learn about what's already at work locally for addressing these widespread problems. Discuss strategies to prevent them. Learn about your resources, contacts, and options. Have information handy to talk with educators, to be ready to help your schools turn a bad situation into a learning opportunity for students. 

Book Discussion via Zoom: The Star and the Shamrock by Jean Grainger (Sun, Aug 16 - date changed to Aug 30)

About The Star and the Shamrock by Jean Grainger

(Available via paperback, Kindle, Audible audiobook
)

From the Publisher:

Ariella Bannon has no choice: she must put her precious children, Liesl and Erich, on that train or allow them to become prey for the Nazis.

Berlin 1939.

When her husband doesn’t come home one day, Ariella realises that the only way she can ensure her Jewish children’s safety is to avail of the Kindertransport, but can she bear to let them go?

A thousand miles away, Elizabeth Klein has closed herself off from the world. Losing her husband on the last day of the Great War, and her child months later, she cannot, will not, love again. It hurts too much.

But she is all Liesl and Erich Bannon have.

Thrown together in the wild countryside of Northern Ireland, Elizabeth and the Bannon children discover that life in the country is anything but tranquil. Danger and intrigue lurk everywhere, and some people are not what they seem.

From the streets of wartime Berlin, to the bombed out city of Liverpool, and finally resting in the lush valleys of the Ards Penisula, The Star and The Shamrock from USA Today bestselling author Jean Grainger, is unputdownable.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Jean Granger's book The Star and the Shamrock.

Time:  Sunday, August 16  30, at 3:00 p.m. Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Book Discussion via Zoom: Spies of No Country by Matti Friedman (Sun, Jun 28)

About Spies of No Country: Israel's Secret Agents at the Birth of the Mossad by Matti Friedman

(Available via paperback, hardback, Kindle, Audible audiobook, CD)

From the Publisher:

Award-winning writer Matti Friedman’s tale of Israel’s first spies has all the tropes of an espionage novel, including duplicity, betrayal, disguise, clandestine meetings, the bluff, and the double bluff—but it’s all true.

The four spies were young, Jewish, and born in Arab countries. In 1948, at the outbreak of war in Palestine, they went undercover in Beirut, spending two years running sabotage operations and sending crucial intelligence back home. It was dangerous work. Of the dozen members of their ragtag unit, five would be caught and executed—but the remainder would emerge as the nucleus of the Mossad, Israel’s vaunted intelligence agency.

Journalist and award-winning author Matti Friedman’s masterfully told and meticulously researched tale of Israel’s first spies reads like an espionage novel—but it’s all true. Spies of No Country is about the slippery identities of these spies, but it’s also about the complicated identity of Israel, a country that presents itself as Western but in fact has more citizens with Middle Eastern roots, just like the spies of this fascinating narrative.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Matti Friedman's book Spies of No Country.

Time:  Sunday, June 28, at 3:00 p.m. Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, June 26)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Fri, June 26, 7:00 p.m. — Services
• Sat, June 27, 9:00 a.m. — Torah study 
• Sat, June 27, 8:15 p.m. — Alabama Community Virtual Havdalah (see email) 
• Multi-congregation. This week, we welcome Selma! 
• Bring your candle, spices, and juice or wine. Prepare to dim your lights. 
• Sun, June 28, 9:30 a.m. — ISJL Education Conference begins. 
• Sun, June 28, 3:00 p.m. — Book discussion: Spies of No Country
• If you registered, you should have gotten an email from Rabbi Dreffin this Thursday. 
• Tue, June 30, 5:00 p.m. — Meet Rabbi Caroline Sim with the ISJL (see email)

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, June 19)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services on Friday, June 19, at 7 p.m.
• Torah study on Saturday, June 20, at 9 a.m.
• Alabama Community Virtual Havdalah (see email) on Saturday, June 20, at 8:15 p.m. (multi-congregation) 
• The Rabbi Goes West (flexible watching times) and Q&A with the filmmakers on Monday, June 21, 8:30 p.m. 

• Sponsorship and region: The Jewish Federation of MS has partnered with the Oxford Film Festival to bring the documentary The Rabbi Goes West, to viewers in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama.
• Price: Pay what you can: $3 - 10 for the ticket to watch the film before the and take part in the conversation. 
• Tickets: https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5ea34352f3aee6003072dc2f
• Film rental details: The film can be pre-ordered and watched anytime June 19-26. Rentals last for 24 hours and 50% of the ticket goes to the filmmakers. 

Book Discussion via Zoom: The Book of V. by Anna Solomon (Thu, Jun 18)

This book discussion is sponsored by our Hadassah discussion group.

About The Book of V.: A Novel by Anna Solomon

(Available via paperback, hardback, kindle, Audible audiobook, CD)

From the Publisher:

Lily is a mother and a daughter. And a second wife. And a writer, maybe? Or she was going to be, before she had children. Now, in her rented Brooklyn apartment she’s grappling with her sexual and intellectual desires, while also trying to manage her roles as a mother and a wife in 2016.

Vivian Barr seems to be the perfect political wife, dedicated to helping her charismatic and ambitious husband find success in Watergate-era Washington D.C. But one night he demands a humiliating favor, and her refusal to obey changes the course of her life—along with the lives of others.

Esther is a fiercely independent young woman in ancient Persia, where she and her uncle’s tribe live a tenuous existence outside the palace walls. When an innocent mistake results in devastating consequences for her people, she is offered up as a sacrifice to please the King, in the hopes that she will save them all.

In Anna Solomon's The Book of V., these three characters' riveting stories overlap and ultimately collide, illuminating how women’s lives have and have not changed over thousands of years.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Anna Solomon's book The Book of V: A Novel.

Time:  Thursday, June 18, at 7:00 p.m. Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, June 12)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services on Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m.
• Torah study on Saturday, June 13, at 9 a.m.
• Alabama Community Virtual Havdalah (see email) on Saturday, June 13, at 8:15 p.m. (multi-congregation) 
• Board meeting (see email) on Sunday, June 14, at 5:30 p.m.
• Hadassah Book Group's discussion of The Book of V: A Novel by Anna Solomon--Thursday, June 18, at 7 p.m.

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, June 5)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services on Friday, June 5, at 7 p.m.
• Torah study on Saturday, June 6, at 9 a.m.
• Board meeting (see email) on Sunday, June 7, at 5:30 p.m.

In the upcoming weeks, look for

• the Hadassah Book Group's discussion of The Book of V: A Novel by Anna Solomon--Thursday, June 18, at 7 p.m.

Rabbi Rozovsky and This Week's Activities (beginning Fri,May 29)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services led by Rabbi Aaron Rozovsky and our bar mitzvah!! on Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m.
• E.'s bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 30, at 10 a.m.
• Havdalah with Rabbi Kramer and Dahlia Road and Cantor Neil Schwartz (see email for link) on Saturday at 8 p.m.
• Annual Congregation Meeting on Sunday, May 31, at 3 p.m. (members received an email with the ballot and link)

Rabbi Rozovsky and This Week's Activities (beginning Fri, May 22)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services led by Rabbi Aaron Rozovsky and our bar mitzvah!! on Friday, May 22, at 7 p.m.
• I.'s bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 23, at 10 a.m.
• Havdalah with Rabbi Kramer and Dahlia Road (see email for link)

See your email for the passwords.

Next week, look for our annual Congregation Meeting.

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, May 15)

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services on Friday, May 15, at 7 p.m.
• Torah study on Saturday, May 16, at 9 a.m.
• the discussion of Up from Orchard Street on Sunday, May 17, at 3 p.m.

In the upcoming weeks, look for

• two bar mitzvahs (via Zoom), and
• our annual Congregation Meeting.

Week's Activities (beginning Fri, May 8)

We have rearranged our website, linking Services and Study (Torah study) from our main menu.

This week, we will have the following activities:

• Services on Friday, May 8, at 7 p.m.
• Torah study on Saturday, May 9, at 9 a.m.

In the upcoming weeks, look for

• the discussion of Up from Orchard Street,
• two bar mitzvahs (via Zoom), and
• our annual Congregation Meeting.

Zoom Torah Study (Sat, May 2)

We are switching to Zoom for Torah study. Join us in Zoom! (We'll use this link for Torah study until we meet face-to-face again.)

Times:  Saturdays at 9 Central
Zoom Link:  https://zoom.us/j/630741697

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 630 741 697

This week's parashat is Acharei Mot - K'doshim, Leviticus 16:1-20:27.
If you don't have a copy of the Torah where you are, use one of the many available digital resources:

• URJ text of Acharei Mot and of K'doshim (CCAR translation from The Torah: A Modern Commentary) 
• URJ commentary on Acharei Mot - K'doshim (this week's parashat is a combination of Acharei Mot and K'doshim; you can also find commentary on the separate pieces on the URJ site)
• ISJL’s Taste of Torah, updated weekly
• Chabad’s text of Acharei Mot - K'doshim (translation by Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg; you can use the button at the top of the translation to turn on Rashi’s commentary)
• Sefaria’s text of Acharei Mot - K'doshim (JPS translation from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
• Sefaria's resources for Acharei Mot and K'doshim (go to Sheets for commentaries)
• Chabad’s list of resources for Acharei Mot - K'doshim (interpretations, etc.--updated weekly to current portion)

Streamed Streamed Friday Night Service, Zoom link (Fri, May 1)

Do NOT come to the synagogue for this service. This is a streamed only service because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

If you show up, we will turn you away (for your safety, ours, and the community's).

To join us,

• access the CCAR's Mishkan T'Filah free as a flip book* 
• service outline
  (esp. for page numbers)
• join by Zoom
  (same Zoom link as most recent Shabbats -- will allow 100 people) 

• get the password by emailing Susan, Ed, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com
• join this way to count toward minyan
• join this way to participate (to take a turn reading, to speak to everyone)
• OR join by Facebook Live by visiting the linked Facebook page and scrolling to the live feed

Also, please let us know early in the service if you have names for mi shebeirach and yahrzeits or if you have announcements.

Book Discussion: Up from Orchard Street by Jennifer Weiner (Sun, May 17)

About Up from Orchard Street by Eleanor Widmer

(Available via paperback, kindle, Audible audiobook, MP3 CD)

From the Publisher:

Up from Orchard Street...

...where three generations of Roth's live together in a crowded tenement flat at number 12. Long-widowed Manya is the family's head and its heart: mother of dapper Jack, mother-in-law of frail and beautiful Lil, and adored bubby of Elka and Willy. She's renowned throughout the teeming neighborhood for her mouthwatering cooking, and every noontime the front room of the flat turns into Manya's private restaurant, where the local merchants come to savor her hearty stews and soups, succulent potato latkes and tzimmes, preserved fruits and glorious pastries.

She is just as renowned for her fierce sense of honor, her quick eye for charlatans, and her generosity to those in need. But Manya is no soft touch-except, perhaps, where her adored granddaughter Elka is concerned. It is skinny, precocious Elka who is her closest companion and confidante-and the narrator of this event-packed novel. Through Elka's eyes we come to know the fascinating characters who come in and out of the Roths' lives: relatives, eccentric locals, doctors, busybody neighbors-as well as the many men who try fruitlessly to win voluptuous Manya's favors. We live through the bittersweet world of these blunt, earthy, feisty people for whom poverty was endemic, illness common, crises frequent, and zest for living intense. Money may have been short but opinions were not, and their tart tongues and lively humor invest every page. In this riveting story lies the heart of the American immigrant experience: a novel at once wise, funny, poignant, anguishing, exultant-and bursting with love.

Discussion Details

Join us either in person or by Zoom (depending on our circumstances). We will have a lively discussion of Eleanor Widmer's Up from Orchard Street.

Time:  Sunday, May 17, at 3 Central
Zoom Link (if we are still meeting via Zoom): https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

Upcoming Possible Selections

The Beth Shalom Book Group is considering the following selections for the future:

• Cut Me Loose by Lean Vincent
• Emerald Horizon by Jean Grainger
• Spies of No Country: Secret Lives of the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Book Discussion via Zoom: Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner (Thu, May 7)

This book discussion is sponsored by our Jewish Women and Friends discussion group.

About Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

(Available via paperback, hardback, kindle, Audible audiobook, MP3 CD)

From the Publisher:

Do we change or does the world change us?

Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born into a world full of promise.

Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life.

But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?

In her most ambitious novel yet, Jennifer Weiner tells a story of two sisters who, with their different dreams and different paths, offer answers to the question: How should a woman be in the world?

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Jennifer Weiner's book Mrs. Everything.

Time:  Thursday, May 7, at 7:00 p.m. Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Zoom Torah Study (Sat, Apr 25)

We are switching to Zoom for Torah study. Join us in Zoom! (We'll use this link for Torah study until we meet face-to-face again.)

Times:  Saturdays at 9 Central
Zoom Link:  https://zoom.us/j/630741697

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 630 741 697

This week's parashat is Tazria-M'tzora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33.
If you don't have a copy of the Torah where you are, use one of the many available digital resources:

• URJ text of Tazria and of M'tzora (CCAR translation from The Torah: A Modern Commentary) 
• URJ commentary on Tazria-M'tzora (this week's parashat is a combination of Tazria and M'Tzora; you can also find commentary on the separate pieces on the URJ site)
• ISJL’s Taste of Torah, updated weekly
• Chabad’s text of Tazria-M'tzora (translation by Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg; you can use the button at the top of the translation to turn on Rashi’s commentary)
• Sefaria’s text of Tazria-M'tzora (JPS translation from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
• Chabad’s list of resources for Tazria-M'tzora (interpretations, etc.--updated weekly to current portion)

Streamed Friday Night Service, Zoom link (Fri, Apr 24)

Do NOT come to the synagogue for this service. This is a streamed only service because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

If you show up, we will turn you away (for your safety, ours, and the community's).

To join us,

• access the CCAR's Mishkan T'Filah free as a flip book* 
• service outline
  (esp. for page numbers)
• join by Zoom
  (same Zoom link as most recent Shabbats -- will allow 100 people) 

• get the password by emailing Susan, Ed, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com
• join this way to count toward minyan
• join this way to participate (to take a turn reading, to speak to everyone)
• OR join by Facebook Live by visiting the linked Facebook page and scrolling to the live feed

Also, please let us know early in the service if you have names for mi shebeirach and yahrzeits or if you have announcements.

Zoom Torah Study (Sat, Apr 18)

We are switching to Zoom for Torah study. Join us in Zoom! (We'll use this link for Torah study until we meet face-to-face again.)

Times:  Saturdays at 9 Central
Zoom Link:  https://zoom.us/j/630741697

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 630 741 697

This week's parashat is Sh'mini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47.
If you don't have a copy of the Torah where you are, use one of the many available digital resources:

• URJ text of Sh'mini (CCAR translation from The Torah: A Modern Commentary)
• URJ commentary on Sh'mini
• ISJL’s Taste of Torah, updated weekly
• Chabad’s text of Sh'mini (you’ll have to move from daily portion to portion with the buttons at the top; you can use the button at the top of the translation to turn on Rashi’s commentary)
• Sefaria’s text of Sh'mini
• Chabad’s list of resources for Sh'mini (interpretations, etc.)

Streamed Friday Night Service, Zoom link (Fri, Apr 17)

Do NOT come to the synagogue for this service. This is a streamed only service because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

If you show up, we will turn you away (for your safety, ours, and the community's).

To join us,

• access the CCAR's Mishkan T'Filah free as a flip book* 
• see the service outline (esp. for page numbers)
• join by Zoom (same Zoom link as 3/27 and 4/3 -- will allow 100 people) 
• get the password by emailing Susan, Ed, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com
• join this way to count toward minyan
• join this way to participate (to take a turn reading, to speak to everyone)
• OR join by Facebook Live by visiting the linked Facebook page and scrolling to the live feed

Also, please let us know early in the service if you have names for mi shebeirach and yahrzeits or if you have announcements.

Book Discussion via Zoom: Antisemitism: Here and Now by Deborah E. Lipstadt (Sun, Apr 12)

About Antisemitism: Here and Now by Deborah E. Lipstadt

2019 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER—Jew­ish Edu­ca­tion and Iden­ti­ty Award

From the publisher:
The award-winning author of The Eichmann Trial and Denial: Holocaust History on Trial gives us a penetrating and provocative analysis of the hate that will not die, focusing on its current, virulent incarnations on both the political right and left: from white supremacist demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, to mainstream enablers of antisemitism such as Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn, to a gay pride march in Chicago that expelled a group of women for carrying a Star of David banner.

Over the last decade there has been a noticeable uptick in antisemitic rhetoric and incidents by left-wing groups targeting Jewish students and Jewish organizations on American college campuses. And the reemergence of the white nationalist movement in America, complete with Nazi slogans and imagery, has been reminiscent of the horrific fascist displays of the 1930s. Throughout Europe, Jews have been attacked by terrorists, and some have been murdered.

Where is all this hatred coming from? Is there any significant difference between left-wing and right-wing antisemitism? What role has the anti-Zionist movement played? And what can be done to combat the latest manifestations of an ancient hatred? In a series of letters to an imagined college student and imagined colleague, both of whom are perplexed by this resurgence, acclaimed historian Deborah Lipstadt gives us her own superbly reasoned, brilliantly argued, and certain to be controversial responses to these troubling questions.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an engaging discussion of Deborah E. Lipstadt's book Antisemitism: Here and Now.

Time:  Sunday, Apr 12, at 3 Central
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/974051878

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 974 051 878

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Read about us and follow us on Facebook. Join us for regular events (Friday services, Torah study, men's breakfasts) and special events (High Holy Days, holiday celebrations, book discussions, special programs, and visiting rabbis, educators, and speakers). Parents, contact us to learn about our religious school.

Streamed Torah Study (Sat, Apr 11)

We are switching to Zoom for Torah study. Join us in Zoom! (We'll use this link for Torah study until we meet face-to-face again.)

Times:  Saturdays at 9 Central
Zoom Link:  https://zoom.us/j/630741697

Password:  Zoom may ask you for a password;
    email Ed, Susan, or bethshalomauburn@gmail.com for the password
Meeting ID:  (to type into Zoom if the link isn’t working): 630 741 697

This week's parashat is Chol HaMo-eid Pesach, Exodus 33:12-34:26.
If you don't have a copy of the Torah where you are, use one of the many available digital resources:

• URJ text of Chol HaMo-eid Pesach (CCAR translation) is not readily available in a consolidated form
• URJ commentary on Chol HaMo-eid Pesach
• ISJL’s Taste of Torah, updated weekly
• Chabad’s text of Chol HaMo-eid Pesach (you’ll have to move from daily portion to portion with the buttons at the top; you can use the button at the top of the translation to turn on Rashi’s commentary)
• Sefaria’s text of Chol HaMo-eid Pesach
• Chabad’s list of resources for Chol HaMo-eid Pesach (interpretations, etc.)