In This Issue:

1. NOVEMBER SPEAKERS MEETING – THANK YOU AND FOLLOWUP
2. VETERANS SHABBAT – FRI NOV 15
3. DINING OUT AT CHIS – MON NOV 18
4. MRJ WEBINAR NOV 10 – FACES OF THE FUTURE
5. CHANUKAH BOUTIQUE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – SUN NOV 24
6. NOVEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES
7. IN CLOSING

(* indicates updated items)

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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. We are now in our summer hiatus, so the weekly will be every 2-3 weeks, depending on upcoming events.

1. NOVEMBER SPEAKERS MEETING – THANK YOU AND FOLLOWUP

Our speaker for Sunday, November 3 was Rhonda Mayer and Loren Lieb (Chair of the Brady SFV Chapter) from the Brady Campaign. After the meeting, Loren sent the following message: “We welcome anyone who is interested in getting involved with Brady and gun violence prevention efforts at the local, state, or federal level. There are lots of opportunities. For those who want to learn even more about Brady, they can visit the Brady website at https://www.bradyunited.org/. For young people interested in gun violence prevention, information about Brady’s youth-led Team Enough is at https://www.bradyunited.org/take-action/join-movement/team-enough. The San Fernando Valley Chapter can be reached at SFVBradyChapter@bradyunited.org.”

2. VETERANS SHABBAT – FRI NOV 15

Again this year, Temple Ahavat Shalom together with MoTAS, is coordinating a shabbat service to honor our veterans and Veterans Day. The service is Friday, November 15. Rabbi Hoffman will be out in Israel, and we have a special guest officiant: Rabbi Saul A. Rappeport, Chaplain, Captain, USAF. Rabbi Capt. Rappeport is the Chaplain for Space Base Delta 3, Space Systems Command, at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. Saul A. Rappeport was born and raised in Perth, Australia, a 4th generation Australian on one side, and a grandchild of Holocaust survivors on the other. At age 12 he moved with his family to Israel, where he attended high school and rabbinic seminary, being ordained by the Ariel Institute of Jerusalem in 2004. Saul has since served in pulpits in Australia, Pennsylvania and New York, and in 2017 pivoted his rabbinate to the U.S. Air Force where he was commissioned as a chaplain. He has since been stationed in Texas, Colorado, California and has deployed multiple times to the Middle East. Saul enjoys languages, being fluent in three and dabbling in several others, additionally he is a fan of many styles of Jewish music, especially cantorial and Yiddish. Saul is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR, Reform), and was previously a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA, Orthodox); he is married to Michal and together they have three teenage children.

The service will be at 7pm.

3. DINING OUT AT CHIS – MON NOV 18

Would you like an easy way to help MoTAS financially? How about taking your family to dinner. The MoTAS “Dining Does Good” allows you to go out to dinner, and have the restaurant donate a portion of your check support the Men of TAS. Our November Dining Does Good” will be Monday, November 18  at Chi’s Chinese, 9635 Reseda Blvd. Northridge, CA 91324,  (818) 886-6928, chis_chinese@verizon.net. You can find a flyer for the event at https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/activities/dining/ or download it directly from our Box account. Once you are at the Box version of the flyer:

• If you are on a PC or Mac using a browser: (1) click on the white DOWNLOAD button; (2) there will be a pop-up about logging in to do more — ignore that – just close the popup box; (3) You will be prompted on where to save the download, or it will go into the downloads directory; (4) when the download is complete, open the PDF and print it. DO NOT right click and attempt to print from the Box page.
• If you using a browser on an Android phone: This takes you directly to the PDF. You can download or print from there.
• If you are using some other method, please send it to me and I’ll include it on this list.
• If you can’t figure this out at all: Drop me an email at cybermaven@tasnorthridge-motas.org , and I’ll send you the PDF as an attachment.

We really encourage you to come and support these events: we raise a little extra funds for our work, but more importantly, we come together and break bread as a Temple family on a regular basis. It is a real joy to walk into a neighborhood restaurant and see your Temple friends, to sit down and share a table and talk. This is the heart and goal of MoTAS: Building Relationships.

4. MRJ WEBINAR NOV 10 – FACES OF THE FUTURE

MRJ has announced another webinar: Faces of the Future. In this webinar, we will hear from four extraordinary rabbinical and cantorial students. Some just a month or two into their journey – others further along. Participants include:

1. Jason Schwartz, First year rabbinical student
2. Megan Eslamboly, Second year rabbinical student
3. Joely Bothast, first year rabbinical AND cantorial student
4. Will Brockman, Second year cantorial Student

The webinar is Nov 10, 2024 09:00 AM Pacific. To register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tU6UqoYPSJuHs4Y5IgVrNQ#/registration

5. CHANUKAH BOUTIQUE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – SUN NOV 24

The annual Sisterhood Holiday Boutique is scheduled for Sunday, November 24 from 10am to 3pm. Typically, the Men of TAS helps with the food service. The current plan is that we will be picking up individually wrapped sandwiches and condiments, and providing bagged chips, canned or bottled drinks. We will need people to help pickup (and possibly pre-package) the food. We will need folks to sell and deliver the food. We will need folks to help clean up. If you will be able to help us at this event, please contact Larry Hoffman at president@tasnorthridge-motas.org.

In particular, we’re looking for volunteers to help inventory and shop. We need to inventory drinks and chips on hand after the poker tournament.  We could also use a volunteer to order and pick up from Subway.

6. NOVEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES

Date: Sunday, November 3, 2024, at TAS

Presiding: President Larry Hoffman

Members Present: Larry Hoffman (President), Hal Bass (Secretary), Les Birken, Daniel Faigin, Scott Gore (VP), Brian Hatkoff, Al Lapides, Bob Levine, Roger Lowe (Treasurer), Barry Mann, Howard Miller, Chuck Mondrus, Larry Pfefer (Immediate Past President), Howard Schnee, Bill Shapiro, Bernie Singer, Alan Stepakoff, Scott Yollis (VP)

Guests: Sharon Epstein, Loren Lieb, Rhonda Mayer, Dr. Andrea Rosenthal, Tammy Singer

Coffee & Breakfast: Bob Levine, Roger Lowe, Scott Yollis

Question of the Day: What is your preferred method for voting?

President’s Report:

• Dining Does Good this month will be at Chi’s Chinese Restaurant in Northridge on Monday, November 18. Be sure to present the flyer available on the MoTAS website when dining in or taking out. Dining Does Good coordinator Barry Mann said due to lower interest in the monthly program, he will arrange for a Dining Does Good experience every other month.
• The League of Women Voters ballot presentation via Zoom on October 20 was very well received.
• MoTAS members and guests congratulated Howard Miller on landscaping improvements near the entry and offices. In the future, it is hoped the area inside the wrought-iron fence overlooking Rinaldi Place can also be re-landscaped. The newly landscaped area will be formally dedicated on Sunday, December 15.
• Larry Pfefer thanked Bill Shapiro for supplying new lighting fixtures.

Roger Lowe’s Treasurer’s Report as of 11/03/2024:

• (See emailed version)

New Business:

• • Brian Hatkoff reported that MRJ has another webinar: Faces of the Future. In this program, we will hear from four extraordinary rabbinical and cantorial students. Some are just a month or two into their journey, while others are further along. Participants include:
    1. Jason Schwartz, first-year rabbinical student
    2. Megan Eslamboly, second-year rabbinical student
    3. Joely Bothast, first-year rabbinical and cantorial student
    4. Will Brockman, second-year cantorial student

The webinar is Sunday, November 10, at 9:00 AM Pacific. To register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tU6UqoYPSJuHs4Y5IgVrNQ#/registration

• The Veterans Shabbat will be Friday, November 15. TAS members who are military veterans (active duty, reserves or National Guard), or are currently serving, are invited to participate in the service. Daniel Faigin, who has been our contact with Rabbi/Captain Saul Rappeport of the U.S. Space Force in El Segundo, said Rabbi Rappeport has accepted Rabbi Becky’s invitation to join us on November 15.
• Due to a dearth of reservations, the Poker Tournament organized by Howard Miller for Sunday, November 17, has been postponed until March or April 2025.
• MoTAS will provide soda, snacks and sandwiches for the Sisterhood Holiday Boutique on Sunday, November 24. A sign-up sheet was circulated.
• Chuck Mondrus announced plans for dinner at a Chinese restaurant to be determined on December 25.
• The annual MoTAS Shabbat will take place Friday evening, January 10, 2025. It is at this event that we introduce our Man of the Year.
• There will be a joint Trivia Night with Sisterhood on January 30.
• The TAS-Beth Hillel Men’s Passover Seder will be held on Sunday, March 30.

Educational Presentation: Rhonda Mayer and Loren Lieb of the Brady Campaign discussed the epidemic of gun violence in the United States and ways to reduce it. They talked about the wounding of five children at the North Valley JCC on August 10, 1999, during which the gunman—a White supremacist and neo-Nazi now serving multiple life terms in a federal prison—also shot a mail carrier to death in Canoga Park. A lively discussion of ways to reduce the increasing toll of gun violence, including accidental shootings and suicide, through federal legislation and educational efforts in schools and physicians’ offices followed.

The next General Membership Meeting is Sunday, Dec 8, 2024, at 8:45 am. Our guest speaker will be Diane Levine, a long-time TAS member and retired professor of Anthropology at Pierce College.

Respectfully submitted,

Hal Bass/Secretary

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!