In This Issue:

1. DINING OUT AT RED ROBIN – TU 2/18
2. MAN OF THE YEAR DINNER (HOWARD MILLER) – SA 3/8 – RSVP BY 2/28*
3. MARCH MOTAS MEMBERSHIP MEETING – SU 3/9
4. POKER TOURNAMENT – SUN 3/9
5. L’DOUGH ‘DOUGH – SUN 3/16
6. MOTAS/MOTBH SEDER: CHAROSIS/GEFILTE FISH COOK OFF – SU 3/30*
7. NCAA SQUARES SALES NOW OPEN*
8. ANNUAL APPEAL NOW OPEN*
9. FEBRUARY MOTAS MEETING MINUTES*
10. 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.

1. DINING OUT AT RED ROBIN – TU 2/18

Would you like an easy way to help MoTAS financially? How about taking your family to lunch or dinner. The MoTAS “Dining Does Good” allows you to go out to lunch or dinner, and have the restaurant donate a portion of your check support the Men of TAS. Our February Dining Does Good” will be Tuesday, February 18, 2025  at Red Robin, 9301 Tampa Ave, Northridge, CA 91324. Just present the flyer or mention the fundraiser when you order or pick up your take out order in person. You can even order online: (1) Start your order at order.redrobin.com and select the Northridge location. (2) In the menu, go to the category labeled “Fundraisers (To-Go Only)” and click on that item. (3) Click the “add” button, and then “add to bag.” (4) Add your meal items and check out. (5) Arrive at Red Robin, come in, say hi, grab your food and be on your way! If your location has curbside pick-up, they can bring it to your car too!

How do you get a flyer? You can find a flyer for the event at https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/activities/dining/ (click on the image of the flyer) or download PDF from our Dropbox account . Once you are at the Dropbox version of the flyer: [NOTE: We are experimenting with Dropbox, let me know if this is easier.]

• If you are on a PC or Mac using a browser: (1) look in the upper right corner. Under the filename, you’ll see “FILE”. Click on that, and you can either PRINT or DOWNLOAD..
• If you using a browser on an Android phone: This takes you directly to the PDF. You can download 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.

2. MAN OF THE YEAR DINNER (HOWARD MILLER) – SA 3/8 – RSVP BY 2/28*

At the MoTAS Shabbat on January 31, Howard Miller was announced as the MoTAS Man of the Year. Congratulations to Howard on a well-deserved reward. Howard was last man of the year way back in 2001! Let’s all show up and show our support for Howard at 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 8, 2025 at Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton. The cost of the dinner is $50 if you are paying by cash or check; $50 plus TicketLeap fees if you are paying by credit card. You can RSVP or pay online at https://tasmotas.ticketleap.com/25-03-mrj-man-of-the-year-dinner/. RSVPS are due by February 28, 2025 at 6:00PM.

3. MARCH MOTAS MEMBERSHIP MEETING – SU 3/9

On Sunday, March 9 at 9:00 AM we will have a business meeting only. Following the meeting we encourage everyone to stay for an adult education film about racial discrimination based on the best-selling book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson A full breakfast, including bagels, lox, and eggs, will be available starting at 8:45am.

Here is information on the film: Sunday, March 9 at 10am, join moderators Tyree Wieder and Diane Levine for a screening of Origin – a story by Ava Duverney. This film is based on the Isabel Wilkerson book Caste. There is a section where the Nazi’s talk about coming to the US to “borrow” some of the Jim Crow laws to take back to Germany – lessons on how they could treat the Jews. Please RSVP to Debbie Shayer to ensure we have a seat for you. Click here for the flyer.

4. POKER TOURNAMENT – SUN 3/9

If you are a poker brat, a poker bum, or are simply a recreational poker player who would like to try your hand at a real Texas Hold-em tournament, join the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom on Sunday, March 9, 2025 for our annual Poker Tournament. The proceeds support the activities of MoTAS, which in turn benefit our temple and religious school. MoTAS has used the proceeds from previous efforts to donate the following for the temple: (*) New microphones that have transformed the sound from the bimah; (*) An updated main office kitchenette; (*) Light fixtures for the Sanctuary bathrooms; (*) Lighting and electrical updates to the Social Hall kitchen; (*) A new water heater for our Social Hall kitchen

Help MoTAS achieve our 2024-25 goals by participating as a Player or Sponsor.  Register to play for just $95, less than half the cost of any other charity tournament in Los Angeles. Please invite all of your poker playing friends and family to join us in benefiting the temple and religious school. The address is 18200 Rinaldi Place. Please arrive at 3:30pm to register. Bring your dark glasses and lucky hat if you like. We also offer a bounty of an additional $100 in playing chips if past players bring a new player to our tournament. Become a Sponsor with one of our available sponsorships:

For more details, visit our Poker Website, http://poker.tasnorthridge-motas.org/ ⇒  https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/activities/poker/, where you can learn about prices and sponsorship levels. Please sign-up in advance online or send a check made out to TAS with a hard copy of the registration form to Howard Miller at 9656 Geyser Ave, Northridge CA 91324.

We’re also looking for donations for the raffle and silent auction at the tournament, Contact Howard at hmiller12@socal.rr.com if you have something to donate.

5. L’DOUGH ‘DOUGH – SUN 3/16

L’Dough V’Dough is a Holocaust Museum LA program that invites participants to braid and bake challah. As our challah bakes, we will hear a survivor’s family’s story of their survival and perseverance. This program will be at TAS on Sunday, March 16 at 9:30am. RSVP required by March 4. RSVS to Scott Gore: scott22g@msn.com, 508.361.9565. For more information contact Scott. More details at (www.holocaustmuseumla.org/programs).

6. MOTAS/MOTBH SEDER: CHAROSIS/GEFILTE FISH COOK OFF – SU 3/30

Here are some updates regarding the forthcoming joint Men of TAS/Men of TBH Seder on Sunday, 3/30/2025, which MoTAS will be hosting at Temple Ahavat Shalom.

• The cost is planned to stay the same as last year: $40 per person.
• Dinner will be catered by Alibaba Restaurant in Granada Hills. See the sign up page for the menu.
• We’re hoping to have a “cook-off” event for Charoset and Gefilte Fish. We’ll be asking the men of both brotherhoods to bring in their favorite home-prepared Charoset and Gefilte Fish. We’ll start doing sign-up sheets at the upcoming meetings.
• We’re hoping for MoTAS members to prepare and bring in some of the other ritual items, notably eggs, horseradish, and such.
• MoTAS will provide drinks (including the wine) and the matzah.
• We will be using a modified and pared down version of our Brotherhood Haggadah from previous years that incorporates content from the MRJ Mens Seder, that Beth Hillel seder, and a few other sources. We expect it to be significantly shorter than our previous version, modulo some of the discussions from the MRJ haggadah. Click here to see the current version.

For more details, see https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/activities/mens-seder/. You can sign up directly at https://tasmotas.ticketleap.com/25-03-brotherhood-seder/.

7. NCAA SQUARES SALES NOW OPEN

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 download and then print, and a link if you wish to order your spaces online. Registration closes Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 6pm, unless otherwise announced.

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.

8. ANNUAL APPEAL NOW OPEN

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. You should be receiving the appeal letter shortly. To contribute online or to print a donation form, just visit support.tasnorthridge-motas.org or go directly to https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/about/support-motas/. The online direct donation page is here; the link to our Box account with the downloadable PDF form is here (note that we haven’t updated the form for 2025 yet).

9. FEBRUARY MOTAS MEETING MINUTES

Date: Sunday, February 9, 2025, at TAS

Presiding: President Larry Hoffman

Members Present: Larry Hoffman (President), Hal Bass (Secretary), Les Birken, Joe Blachman, Jim Eblinger, Daniel Faigin, Scott Gore (VP), Steve Gould, Brian Hatkoff, Al Lapides, Gordon Lester, Bob Levine, Roger Lowe (Treasurer), Chuck Mondrus, Jeff Neiman, Larry Pfefer (Immediate Past President), Len Schaffer, Howard Schnee, Bill Shapiro, Mike Skor, Mike Thornhill, Marshall Waldman, Scott Yollis (VP)

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

Question of the Day: What is your favorite amendment to the Constitution?

President’s Report:

• Larry H congratulated Howard Miller on being named Man of the Year for 2025 at the MoTAS Shabbat on January 31. This is the second time Howard has been honored; his earlier recognition as Man of the Year took place in 2001. The regional Men of the Year awardees dinner will be held at Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton Saturday evening, March 8.
• Trivia Night with MoTAS and Sisterhood on January 30 was well attended and a great success.
• Dining Does Good: On February 18, the Red Robin in Northridge will be on the menu for Dining Does Good. Be sure to present the flyer available on the MoTAS website to your server or cashier. If you know of other restaurants which would be good venues for this program, let our Dining Does Good coordinator, Barry Mann, know.
• A sign-up sheet was passed around for volunteers to help with the Poker Tournament on Sunday, March 9.
• On March 14, we will celebrate Purim, and the Oneg Shabbat will have a “Wicked”-inspired theme.
• Scott Gore announced that L’Dough V’Dough, a joint activity of MoTAS and the Sisterhood, on Sunday, March 16, will feature Holocaust survivors or their family members from the Museum of Tolerance plus challah baking.
• Daniel Faigin said this year’s Men’s Seder with Temple Beth Hillel of Valley Village will be held at TAS, Sunday evening, March 30. The dinner will be catered by the Ali Baba Persian restaurant of Granada
  Hills. Daniel circulated a list of additional food items such as gefilte fish for attendees to bring.
• On April 6, MoTAS will prepare Yom HaShoah candles for mailing.
• For our May 4 membership meeting, Mike Skor proposed that we arrange for a presentation by the Center for Inquiry, which was founded by the late Dr. Carl Sagan and other prominent scientists and intellectuals to promote scientific inquiry and protect society from pseudoscience and religious ideology. Mike’s suggestion was taken under advisement.
• Brian Hatkoff asked MoTAS to consider raising funds to assist the Reform temple in Pasadena destroyed in the recent wildfires. Howard Schnee and Marshall Waldman volunteered to help with this effort.
• The MoTAS Annual Appeal is now under way. Donations can be made through the MoTAS website.

Roger Lowe’s Treasurer’s Report as of 02/07/2025:

• (email version only)

New Business:

• The TAS Shabbaton Retreat will be rescheduled.
• The annual Shabbabaque will take place Friday evening, June 13.
• The MoTAS contribution in support of camperships is to be decided.

Educational Presentation: Scott Yollis reviewed the historical aspects of the Second Amendment and its implications for gun control and firearm safety. He did a PowerPoint presentation on the anatomy of guns and their various accessories; reviewed laws in California and other locales; explained the differences between standard firearms and semi-automatic and automatic weapons; and the types of individuals or groups who commit violent crimes. Scott’s talk was well organized, and many excellent questions were generated.

Next General Membership Meeting: Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 8:45 am. The meeting will be abbreviated so members and other congregants can watch a documentary about racial discrimination
based on the best-selling book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” by Isabel Wilkerson. Tyree Wieder and Diane Levine will moderate the discussion following the movie.

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!