Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Week of October 17

THIS WEEK:



On Campus:

Torah Tuesday
Jewish Conversations
"Being Jewish; Teaching Milton" - facilitated by English professor Louis Schwartz

Tuesday, Oct. 18
For information on time and location, email Rabbi Andrew Goodman


Homecoming Shabbat
Join alumni, current students, faculty, and staff as we welcome Shabbat as a community of Jewish Spiders, past and present.

A Kabbalat Shabbat Service will be followed by a kosher Shabbat dinner.

Friday, October 21
6:30 pm
University Club of the E. Bruce Heilman Dining Center
RSVP to Rabbi Andrew Goodman


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:



Like kids? Want to make a difference?
Be a mentor! 
Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy is looking for new mentors at Swansboro Elementary School. Spend an hour a week getting to know a child and helping him/her work on their reading and/or math skills. RJCL encourages everybody to participate but is in particular need of males. The boys at this school are sorely lacking in positive male role models and a weekly visit with a law student or professor is just what the doctor ordered. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life and it’s a fairly small time commitment.
If you are interested, please email Alison Linas.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

On Campus:



Jewish Conversations: 
"Environment, Responsibility, and Genesis 1" facilitated by law professor Noah Sachs

Thursday, Nov. 3
For time and location, email Rabbi Andrew Goodman

In the Community:

An Evening with Meir Shalev Bestselling Israeli Novelist & Writer
Q & A and a book signing

One of Israel’s most celebrated novel­ists, Meir Shalev was born in 1948 in Nahalal, Israel’s first moshav. Shalev is the recipient of the Juliet Club Prize (Italy); The Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel); The Chiavari (Italy); The Entholomogical Prize (Israel); The Wizo Prize in France, Israel and Italy; and The Brenner Prize of 2006—the highest Israeli literary recognition awarded for his novel, A Pigeon and a Boy, published in theU.S. by Random House in 2007. Shalev will talk about his most recent novel My Russian Grandmother and Her America Vacuum Cleaner. This event is co-sponsored by the University of Richmond.

Sunday, November 6th
7:00 p.m.
Weinstein JCC

The Maccabeats in Concert
YouTube sensation, The Maccabeats, with hit videos “Candlelight” and “The Purim Song”, have been viewed by over five million people and features Richmond’s own RTA graduate Ari Lewis. Strongly committed to the philosophy of Torah u-Madda, the integration of traditional and secular wisdom, The Yeshiva University a cappella group has performed at the White House, on Good Morning America and CBS2 and has been featured by CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times. They will perform an eclectic array of Jewish, American and Israeli songs.

Saturday, Nov. 12
7:00 pm
The Oates Theatre at Collegiate School
Preferred Seating: $20 M / $25 NM
General Admission: $10 / $15 NM/ $8 seniors & STUDENTS
For tickets, contact Lisa Looney at 804-545-8608 or llooney@weinsteinjcc.org

RABBI’S CORNER

After weeks of awareness of the cyclical nature of life (with Elul, Fall, Rosh Hashanah, etc.) we complete the High Holiday season this weekend with Simchat Torah when we start the Torah all over again.   After reading about Moses’ death we reroll the massive Torah scroll to the beginning and start “B’reishit bara Elohim… In the beginning, God created…”  And with those words, we segue from holidays and celebrations into the mundane.  We move from special events and we begin the methodical march through the Torah and the year.
The question that this parashah asks of us is, during the rest of the year, how are we going to remember the messages of sacredness so palpable in the High Holidays?  As we resume normal life, how do we make sure to imbue all that we learned about ourselves into otherwise regular existence?
I pray that we are all able to enter this new beginning with purpose.  I pray that we are able to harness the growth, introspection, and repentance in our near memories for a meaningful year.  And, I pray that as we read of the creation of a world build on an ideal of perfection, we can all contribute to that effort in some way this year.
L’shalom,
-Rabbi Goodman

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