In This Issue:
- CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW OFFICERS
- JUNE SHABBABQUE – FR JUN 12
- DINING OUT – RED ROBIN – TU JUN 9
- MOTAS ANNUAL APPEAL
- REMINDER: ZELLE/VENMO ADDRESS CHANGE
- MAY MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES
- 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. During the summer, when there are not a lot of events, the weekly will appear … less than weekly. If you know of someone who should be getting the weekly, or if you had this forwarded this to you and you want to get on our sublist, please drop a note to cybermaven@tasnorthridge-motas.org and we’ll add you.
1. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW OFFICERS
At our last meeting, the following officers were elected for the period July 2026 through June 2027:
- Howard Schnee, President
- Bill Shapiro & Scott Yollis, Vice Presidents
- Larry Pfefer, Treasurer
- Hal Bass, Secretary
2. JUNE SHABBABQUE – FR JUN 12
It’s back. MoTAS’s Famous Shabbabaque (or, as Larry the Elder spells it, Shababbaque) on Friday, June 12, 2026. 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/JE3MP 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/JE3MP .
Shabbabaque starts with a service in the sanctuary at 6:00pm, 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://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/tasnorthridge-motas/26-06-shabbabaque. At the last meeting, the MoTAS membership voted to make the event free for all attendees; however, registration is required by the Tuesday before the event, June 9, at 6:00 PM, so that we know how much to purchase.
Our grid mavens have informed us that this will be your first official chance to purchase Football Squares for the 2026 Monday Night Football season. Online sales are not yet open.
3. DINING OUT – RED ROBIN – TU JUN 9
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 Tuesday, June 9 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 Google Drive (updated link). From there, just click on the printer icon to print, or the three dots to download.
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. MOTAS ANNUAL APPEAL
The MoTAS Shabbat marks the start of the Annual Appeal, which continues until the end of May. You should have received the official letter from our President; but you can also take care of things online. MoTAS depends on contributions from our membership to do what we do, and to help Temple Ahavat Shalom. 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 Google Drive account with the downloadable PDF form is here.
5. REMINDER: ZELLE/VENMO ADDRESS CHANGE
As a reminder: With the passing of Roger Lowe Z”L and the transfer of Treasurer operations to our new MoneyMaven, Larry Pfefer, our Zelle and Venmo addresses have changed. Please add the following addresses to your Zelle / Venmo address books, and delete the old addresses. We are in the process of updating event forms, webpages, and Ticketleap as events occur.
- Zelle:
treasurer@menoftas.orgor the Zelle tagMenofTAS - Venmo: treasurer@menoftas.org
Our Paypal address, onlinesales@tasnorthridge-motas.org, remains unchanged.
6. MAY MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES
Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom General Membership Meeting Minutes
Date: Sunday, May 3, 2026, at TAS
Presiding: President Howard Schnee
Members Present: Howard Schnee (President), Hal Bass (Secretary), Les Birken, Joe Blachman, Bob Brostoff, Daniel Faigin, Brian Hatkoff, Larry Hoffman (Immediate Past President), Gary Lax, Bob Levine, Joel Lowell, Barry Mann, Chuck Mondrus, Jeff Neiman, Russ Rapoport, Bernie Singer, Bill Shapiro (VP), Ben Tenn, Mike Thornhill, Scott Yollis (VP)
Guests: Rabbi Becky Hoffman, Wendy Alter, Judy Stehr
Coffee & Breakfast: Scott Yollis, Mike Thornhill, Chuck Mondrus, Bob Levine
President’s Report:
- Chi’s Chinese Restaurant in Northridge will be our next Dining Does Good opportunity on Wednesday, May 6. Be sure to print out and present the flyer on the MoTAS website to your server or cashier. Red Robin will be the featured eatery on Tuesday, June 9. If you are aware of other establishments that would be good venues for this program, let Dining Does Good coordinator Barry Mann know.
- Volunteers are needed for the Sisterhood Shabbat on Friday, May 8. A sign-up sheet was provided.
- MoTAS has bought an ad for the Gala, which will take place Saturday evening, May 30.
Sports Squares:
- Bob Levine announced that Sports Squares for the coming football season will be available for purchase at the Shabbabeque on Friday, June 12.
New Business:
- Election of Officers: Howard Miller, Bob Levine, and Daniel Faigin were members of the Nominating Committee for 2026-27 MoTAS officers. Nominees were Howard Schnee, President; Bill Shapiro & Scott Yollis, Vice Presidents; Larry Pfefer, Treasurer; and Hal Bass, Secretary. Larry Hoffman continues as Immediate Past President. No additional nominations were submitted. Bob Levine introduced, and Bernie Singer seconded, a motion to accept the Nominating Committee’s report. The slate of officers was unanimously approved, with one-year terms of office to begin July 1.
- This year’s MoTAS Shabbabeque will take place after services Friday evening, June 12.
- Wendy Alter announced that songwriter and record producer Steve Barri will be featured at a joint MoTAS-Sisterhood presentation on Sunday, November 8.
Educational Presentation: Michael Katan, firefighter and paramedic, spoke about “Community Resilience.”
Next Meeting: No meetings in June, July or August. The next General Membership Meeting will take place Sunday, October 11, 2026, at 8:45 am. However, it’s possible we might hold a brief September meeting to coincide with sukkah-building on Thursday the 25th.
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!
Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom 