MoTAS Weekly 5/28/2025: June Membership Meeting Su 6/1 | Dining Out at Maria’s Tu 6/3

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In This Issue:

  1. JUNE MOTAS MEMBERSHIP MEETING – SU 6/1
  2. DINING OUT – TU 6/3 – MARIA’S ITALIAN
  3. ANNUAL APPEAL – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
  4. JUNE SHABBABAQUE – FR 6/13
  5. MRJ CONVENTION – 6/19-21 – DETROIT MI
  6. IN CLOSING

(* indicates updated items)

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. JUNE MOTAS MEMBERSHIP MEETING – SU 6/1

Our June Membership meeting will be Sunday, 6/1, at 10:00am (a later start time due to the Gala the night before). A full brunch, including bagels, lox, and eggs, will be available starting at 10:00am (later time). Note: The Temple is nominally closed this Sunday, so you MUST use your access card or gate code; if you don’t have a card or code, please contact Larry Pfefer at lpfefer@tasnorthridge.org. For the June 1 meeting, we will be showing three short Israeli videos after the business meeting:

  • An Average Story (18m). Avi Cohen has just been informed that he is the most average man who ever lived. Overnight, he reluctantly becomes a national icon and instant celebrity. With his wife’s enthusiastic urging, they translate the situation into a business venture that goes surprisingly awry. Year: 2015
  • Kapunka (11m). A wild Jewish western comedy about the conflict of living a traditional and modern life. In order to get around, a requirement for Jews to leave their fields once every seven years. Shmulik “sells” his land to his Thai laborer leading to unexpected consequences. Year: 2015
  • The Mouse (12m). A hard-working family in an Israeli suburb in the ’70s. Through the kids’ point of view, we follow the message the adults deliver to their children and how that will shape the adults they will become. Year: 2019

2. DINING OUT – TU 6/3 – MARIA’S ITALIAN

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 June Dining Does Good” will be Tuesday, June 3  at Maria’s Italian Kitchen, 9161 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324, (818) 341-5114.

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.

3. ANNUAL APPEAL – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

We’re nearing the end of the appeal period, but we’re running behind in the amounts we’ve collected. MoTAS depends on contributions from our membership to do what we do, and to help Temple Ahavat Shalom. You’ve received your appeal letter. We now need you to act. 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.

4. JUNE SHABBABQUE – FR 6/13

It’s back. MoTAS’s Famous Shabbabaque (or, as Larry the Elder spells it, Shababbaque) on Friday, June 13, 2025. Whatever the spelling, Shabbabque, Shabbaque, or Sha-Bar-BBQ (think of it like Chanukah, or is that Hanukkah), it is a MoTAS tradition to usher in summer. Before we go into the details of the event, WE WILL NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN. We need you to go to https://volunteersignup.org/7RJ3M and sign up to help. You can sign up with multiple duties. We need people to shop, prep, cook, setup, serve, take tickets, and cleanup.We can’t do it without you. So again: Volunteer to help at https://volunteersignup.org/7RJ3M .

Shabbabaque starts with a service in the sanctuary at 6:30pm, followed at 7:45pm by a delicious barbeque dinner.  Last year’s menu included turkey burgers, beef burgers, and hot dogs.  Vegetarian items included vegetarian patties, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad,  watermelon, and dessert. To sign up, visit https://wp.tasnorthridge-motas.org/activities/shabbabaque/, or you can go to the Ticketleap directly at https://tasmotas.ticketleap.com/2506-shababbaque/. The cost is $10; free for religious school families. Reservations are required (and pre-payment is encouraged) by the Tuesday before the event, June 10, at 6:00 PM.

Our grid mavens have informed us that this will be your first official chance to purchase Football Squares for the 2025 Monday Night Football season.

5. MRJ CONVENTION – 6/19-21 – DETROIT MI

You are invited to join the Men of Reform Judaism at its biannual convention in Detroit MI, June 19 – 22, 2025, at the Westin Southfield

Why? Come for the community, stay for the vision, and leave with a purpose.

The goal of the convention is to address the question “How do we meaningfully engage men—especially younger men—in Jewish life today?” Join us for a dynamic session exploring what younger generations are truly seeking, how the Jewish engagement ecosystem is evolving, and what it really means to “meet people where they are” in an era of shifting identities, spiritual frameworks, and digital connection. Together, we’ll explore practical tools and bold ideas to reimagine Brotherhoods and Jewish spaces as inclusive, relevant, and purpose-driven communities—where men can grow, connect, and belong.

There will be a number of workshops:

  • MRJtalks: Sharing Our Stories – Reflecting on the Past. Connecting for the Future.
  • Values Clarification: Finding Our Why – Part 1: Personal • Part 2: Universal
  • Tradition vs. Innovation: An Enduring Dilemma in Jewish Life – Honoring the Past. Embracing the Future.
  • Design Thinking for Jewish Community – Part 1: Intro – Rethinking Challenges. Reimagining Possibilities.

Participants will engage in active discussion and honest reflection — wrestling, as Jews have always done — with how we move forward while staying rooted in what matters most. This isn’t about choosing sides. It’s about holding the questions. … and let’s not forget the awards! Click here for information on how to apply for awards.

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!

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