In This Issue:
- MAY SPEAKER – RENEWAL OF JUDAISM IN POLAND
- PROPOSED SLATE OF OFFICERS FOR 2015-2016
- JETHAWKS BASEBALL – FAMILY EVENT – SUNDAY JUNE 7
- SUPPORT THE YOM HASHOAH MAILING
- IN CLOSING
1. MAY SPEAKER – RENEWAL OF JUDAISM IN POLAND
Mark your calendar now for Sunday May 3. On the special date (the meeting was moved up one week due to Mothers Day), our speaker will be Jerry Fanning on The Renewal of Judaism in Poland. This talk will present the work being done to foster a vibrant renewal of Judaism in Poland. Working together, the Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland along with the World Union for Progressive Judaism and the European Union for Progressive Judaism are opening the doors of Judaism to many of Poland’s estimated 200,000 potential Jews and building the framework for renewed religious life. Our outreach programs focus on educating individuals and helping them build Progressive religious communities, or havurot, which are incipient congregations. So far we have established havurot in numerous Polish cities. Some are on their way to becoming congregations. Jewish Renewal in Poland embraces continuity with the Jewish past in Poland, but it is not a memorial project.
Our speaker, Jerry Fanning, has been involved in assisting with the restoration of Jewish life in Poland during the past several years. His activities have ranged from sending Jewish-themed books to Polish universities and synagogues to organizing the first ongoing Twinning Declaration between two Progressive Jewish congregations in Poland and America. He serves as a board member of Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland as well as a board member of Temple Beth Israel in Pomona.
As usual, we start with breakfast at 8:45 AM, followed by our activity review at 9:00 AM and our speaker at 10:00 PM.
2. PROPOSED SLATE OF OFFICERS FOR 2015-2016
At the April MoTAS meeting, Bob Levine, Chair of the Nominating Committee, announced the proposed slate of officers for the 2015-2016 year:
- President: Daniel Faigin
- Vice Presidents: Dave Friedman and Frank Soronow
- Treasurer: Roger Lowe
- Secretary: Bill Shapiro
The election will take place during the May meeting. If you would like to run for MoTAS office, we welcome a contested election. Please contact Bob Levine at pastpresident@tasnorthridge-motas.org for more information.
3. JETHAWKS BASEBALL – FAMILY EVENT – SUNDAY JUNE 7
Next week we will be opening registration for our Jethawks Baseball Family Event on Sunday, June 7. This will be an outing to “The Hanger” in Lancaster (about a hour drive from TAS) on a Sunday afternoon to see the Jethawks play. The cost will be $9 per person (with a slight convenience charge for online credit-card registrations). If you haven’t been to a minor-league baseball game, they are an order of magnitude more fun than an outing to the Dodgers. The stadium is small, the food is inexpensive, and the goal is just to have a great time. The Jethawks (http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t491) are the minor-league team for the Houston Astros. The game is an afternoon game, allowing us to arrive at the stadium, gather together for lunch, and not be out until the wee hours of the morning. It is also after religious school is over for the year, so we encourage you to bring your kids and grandkids. The more the merrier.
Signups will open next weekend, and we’ll be getting a flyer to the religious school kids to encourage the families to join us.
4. SUPPORT THE YOM HASHOAH MAILING
At the March meeting of MoTAS we assembled and packed yellow Yom HaShoah candles for mailing to all congregants. Hopefully, you have received your candle by now. Mailing the candles to each household is expensive and postage went up significantly this year, but we feel it is something important to do. Please help us continue this effort by returning the form enclosed with your candle and helping to cover the cost of the candles and their mailing.
Yom HaShoah begins the evening of April 15 (who can forget that day), and the Men of TAS invites you to join us in lighting our candles — a congregation strong — to remember the holocaust and to keep the fight against antisemitism alive.
5. IN CLOSING
As always, remember that the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom is *your* organization. Keep up to date on our activities at http://www.tasnorthridge-motas.org/ and participate. We want to serve all the men of Temple Ahavat Shalom and welcome new participants from the TAS membership. Join our Facebook group and “follow” our website. Come be part of the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom!
Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom 