Rabbi Kalfus and Phyllis Meyers leading services and Torah study (beginning Fri, Apr 30)

On Friday, April 30, join us for Zoom services with Rabbi Arturo Kalfus and Jewish educator Phyllis Meyers, They will be conducting services remotely from Mexico, and they always bring with them, even remotely, a deep spirituality. Services will include live music. 

On Saturday, join us for Torah study led by Rabbi Kalfus (and likely Phyllis Meyers). 

Bio: Rabbi Arturo Kalfus and Educator Phyllis Meyers

Rabbi Kalfus served at Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, CA, and before that at Temple Emanu-El in Oak, Park, MI. Born in Buenos Aires to Polish immigrants who survived the Holocaust, Rabbi Kalfus journeyed to Israel and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1983. He holds a B.A. with honors in Jewish History and Jewish Philosophy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Rabbi Kalfus was ordained in 1992 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. In addition, Rabbi Kalfus participated in a program on Language, Culture and Civilization at the Sorbonne in Paris, and performed doctoral work at Columbia University. He is a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem and completed professional development courses at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Institute, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School.

Rabbi Kalfus is married to Phyllis Meyers, who is trained in both Jewish education and special education. They are the parents of two adult children, Ari and Lilah.

(Adapted from text from Temple Ahavat Shalom)

---

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: Khirbet Khizeh (Sun, Apr 18)

 

(Available via paperback and Kindle)

About Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar

From the Publisher:

It's 1948 and the Arab villagers of Khirbet Khizeh are about to be violently expelled from their homes. A young Israeli soldier who is on duty that day finds himself battling on two fronts: with the villagers and, ultimately, with his own conscience.

Published just months after the founding of the state of Israel and the end of the 1948 war, the novella Khirbet Khizeh was an immediate sensation when it first appeared. Since then, the book has continued to challenge and disturb, even finding its way onto the school curriculum in Israel. The various debates it has prompted would themselves make Khirbet Khizeh worth reading, but the novella is much more than a vital historical document: it is also a great work of art. Yizhar's haunting, lyrical style and charged view of the landscape are in many ways as startling as his wrenchingly honest view of modern Israel's primal scene.

Considered a modern Hebrew masterpiece, Khirbet Khizeh is an extraordinary and heartbreaking book that is destined to be a classic of world literature.

Discussion Details

Join us by Zoom for an interesting discussion of Yizhar's book Khirbet Khizeh.

Time:  Sunday, April 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

---

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.

Show & Tell: Documents from a Member's Family in Nazi-Occupied Europe (Sun, Apr 11)

Passport Border Stamp

Update: Recording of the presentation (password protected)

When and Where: On Sunday, April 11 at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom. 

The direct link to the presentation is in members’ and friends’ emails. If you are not on our contact list and would like to attend, please email us.

What: One of our members (KP) will present and talk about the few documents saved from her family’s experience in Nazi-occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia. These are documents she has never shared completely before, not even with her family. They tell something about the experience of her parents in Vienna and that of a cousin and his family in the Moravian-Silesian region in eastern Czechoslovakia. They span the years 1938 to 1941 and illustrate events from the annexation of Austria into the German empire and Nazi occupation of Czechloslovakia. 

Duration: KP's presentation will begin at 3:00 p.m. and last approximately 30 minutes, after which there will be time for questions and discussion. 

Future Events? With this event, the Cultural Arts Committee will start what we hope will be a series of Zoom get-togethers entitled “Show and Tell.” We want to create a way for members of the Beth Shalom community to share experiences and stories about their own or their family’s experience as Jews. Items shared can include ritual or other artifacts and objects, photographs, stories, or anything else you would like to share with the community.