In This Issue:

1. MOTAS MAN OF THE YEAR / MRJ REGIONAL MOY DINNER SAT 3/18
2. MARCH MEMBERSHIP MEETING – CANDLE PACKING ON SUN 3/19
3. MOTAS ANNUAL APPEAL TIME
4. NCAA BASKETBALL SQUARES NOW ON SALE
5. MRJ CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION – JUN 23-25
6. IN CLOSING

From the Editor: The goal of the Weekly is to get MoTAS members the information they need on upcoming activities, and then get out of the way. If you have any information on MoTAS activities you need to get out to the membership, please contact the Weekly Editor at cybermaven@tasnorthridge-motas.org.

1. MOTAS MAN OF THE YEAR / MRJ REGIONAL MOY DINNER SAT 3/18

Bill Shapiro was honored at the January MoTAS Shabbat as our 2023 Man of the Year. A very deserving member, Bill has always been there when we needed him, flipping pancakes and volunteering at events. We just honored Bill, together with our 2020 honoree Les Birken, our 2021 honoree Hal Bass, and our 2022 honoree Mike Rayfield Z”L, at a TAS-level dinner at Olive Garden. Now’s the time we’re taking it regional.

The MRJ Man of the Year Dinner, where our honoree will be feted, together with the honorees from other MRJ congregations from the MRJ Pacific Southwest region, is Saturday, March 18, 2023 at Temple Beth David in Westminster. The cost of the dinner is $40 if you are paying by cash or check; $40 plus TicketLeap fees if you are paying by credit card. You can RSVP or pay online at https://tasmotas.ticketleap.com/23-03-mrj-man-of-the-year-dinner/. RSVPS are due by March 9, 2023 at Noon.

2. MARCH MEMBERSHIP MEETING – CANDLE PACKING ON SUN 3/19

Our March membership meeting will be shifted back one week: Sunday, March 19. This is our annual Yom Ha-Shoah Candle Packing meeting. Breakfast will be served, as usual, but we’ll attempt to keep the business part of the meeting short and sweet, so we can get to putting candles in bags. It goes fast with everyone’s help. So be there: Sunday, 3/19, at 845am in the Chapel/Library.

3. MOTAS ANNUAL APPEAL TIME

The MoTAS Shabbat marks the start of our annual appeal. MoTAS does not collect membership dues — we depend on contributions from our membership to do what we do, and to help Temple Ahavat Shalom. We’re still working on writing the letter and getting out the mailing, but you can donate now. To contribute online or to print a donation form, just visit support.tasnorthridge-motas.org.

4. NCAA BASKETBALL SQUARES NOW ON SALE

Now that football season is officially over, it’s time for basketball and the craziness known as the Final Four, in early April. Once again, MoTAS is happy to offer you the opportunity to help raise some needed funds for special TAS projects, and maybe you’ll earn some $$ along the way. In other words: NCAA Squares are now on sale. To get all the information (and in some cases, more than you could ever want), go to http://squares.tasnorthridge-motas.org/ where you’ll find the instructions, a sign-up form you can print, and a link if you wish to order your spaces online.

To summarize: each name on the board can have up to 3 spaces. The squares are priced at $36 each. The game is for both the men’s and women’s tournament (semifinal two games each, and final games), so there are 12 opportunities to be a winner, since there is a winner at the half and final score. If the board is fully subscribed at all 100 spaces, the payout is $150 per win. Once again, we’ll use our “tie-breaker” method to determine a winner if a winning square is unsold (If there are unsold squares, the payouts will be adjusted.) The tie-breaker is your prediction of the total number of points both teams will score in any game, for example, if you think the final score will be 82-61, your number = 143. Here’s a hint for those who are unfamiliar (or don’t really care….): the average score for the men’s tournament for the last two years was 147, and the average score for the women’s tournament was 134. You get only one tie-breaker per person, so choose wisely.

5. MRJ CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION – JUN 23-25

MRJ is celebrating its 100th birthday at a special convention and conclave the weekend of June 23-25, 2023 at Temple Beth El in Providence RI and at the Graduate Providence. Some highlights of the event:

• Our guest of honor and keynote speaker Shabbat evening, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism.
• Special morning session – Indigenous People/Native Lands. The lands where Temple Beth-El sits as once the lands of the Masswascut—The Land between the two rivers, and the territory of the Meschanticut, which are the ancestral homelands of the Narragansettt, Pokanoket and Nipmuc peoples.
• There will be a special program on Implicit bias, which refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner without awareness, intention, or control.
• MRJ Award Ceremony. Awards range from “service to the Temple community” to “intergenerational” and “adult Jewish Education. To apply, click here.

To register for the event, click here. To register for the hotel, click here.

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. Sign up for our action alert list at http://tinyurl.com/motas-action-alert. 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. Join the MoTAS Google Group at https://groups.google.com/g/tas-motas (you may need to be logged into your Google account, if you have one). Come be part of the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom!