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.
MoTAS actively participates in an annual Shabbat service to coincide with Veterans Day, which this year will be on November 11. If you are a veteran (active duty, reserves, National Guard), email Hal Bass at hbass@csun.edu. Place in the body of the message your name, branch of service, years of service, highest rank, and whether you served on active duty, reserves or National Guard. Include information about your children or grandchildren who have or may be currently serving.
The annual Sisterhood Holiday Boutique is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, November 20 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, you can sign up at https://volunteersignup.org/CBBM3.
Bernie Singer shares the news that he and Tammy will be celebrating their 50th anniversary and sponsoring the oneg this Friday, October 14th. They would love to see their MOTAS friends there to celebrate with them.
The MoTAS Board met in early August and discussed a bunch of fun activities, including tossing around a number ideas for new activities. We aim to shake off the stodgy image of MoTAS, and come up with events that will appeal to many potential members. To do that, however, we need volunteers to coordinate activities. If you would like to step up to the plate and help us, drop a note to Larry (president@tasnorthridge-motas.org).
TAS is in need of a Zoom-Master or multiple Zoom-Masters to manage the broadcast of our Friday Shabbat services. WE WILL TRAIN YOU. Easy to learn, easy to manage, and you are here for services anyway. We would like to have at least 4 volunteers on a rotating basis with a commitment to one Friday a month or less. Call or email Larry Pfeffer and tell him of your interest: motas@TASNorthridge.org or 818.366.2334.
Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom General Meeting Minutes
Date: Sunday, October 9, 2022, at TAS
Presiding: President Larry Pfefer
Members Present: Larry Pfefer (President), Hal Bass (Secretary), Daniel Faigin, David Goldstein, Scott Gore (VP), Brian Hatkoff, Larry Hoffman (VP), Paul Issler, Al Lapides, Bob Levin, Bob Levine, Roger Lowe (Treasurer), Howard Miller (Past President), Chuck Mondrus, Jeff Neiman, Josh Paul, Russ Rapoport, Mike Rayfield, Joe Roter, Bill Shapiro, Will Simpson, Bernie Singer, Alan Stepakoff, Mike Thornhill, Scott Yollis
TASTY Guest: Robert Simpson
Coffee & Bagels: Bob Levine, Roger Lowe, Chuck Mondrus
Question of the Day: Introduce yourself and tell us for how many years you’ve been a TAS member.
President’s Report:
Hal Bass, Bob Levine and Roger Lowe are arranging for the temple’s annual Veterans Shabbat, Friday evening, November 11. Veterans to be recognized will also include members’ children or grandchildren who are now serving or have served in the past. Hal will communicate with Rabbi Becky and Aaron Solomon after Sukkot and Simchat Torah about possibly including photos of TAS veterans during their service years (active duty, National Guard or Reserves) along with playing a medley of Armed Forces service songs. Meanwhile, Daniel Faigin will post a reminder of the Veterans Shabbat in The Weekly starting Wednesday, October 12.
Larry advised members to read The Weekly, which Daniel Faigin prepares for distribution by email every Wednesday, and the temple’s Weekly Bulletin on Thursday.
Interested in the history of TAS from the temple’s establishment in 1965 to the present? See Temple Ahavat Shalom Northridge – Wikipedia
Roger Lowe’s Treasurer’s Report as of 10/6/2022
The treasurers report is not included in the web posting.
New Business: Twenty-six men participated in assembling the sukkah outside the social hall. The work was completed in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Adjournment and Next MoTAS Meeting: The next MoTAS membership meeting will take place at the temple, Sunday, November 13, at 9 am. To attend in person, everyone must be fully vaccinated and boosted and should be prepared to furnish their vaccine card or a photo thereof.
Respectfully submitted,
Hal Bass/Secretary
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!
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.
Note: During the summer, the Weekly may skip the occasional week as things are quieter.
First of all, I hope this note is finding you and your families in good health. I also want to wish each of you a very healthy and happy coming High Holidays.
I have planned on writing this note for some time once my third year as President ended. I will admit that I put off writing it for a while but something has come up that reminded me it was time to send it out. Many of you may have noted the passing of Leland “Lee” Baum. We have not seen Lee for a few years; even pre-COVID he was becoming more frail and had stopped driving. Lee might have been considered the epitome of a Man of TAS. He belonged to our group for its friendship, honest conversations, comradery and our dedication to TAS. He attended our meetings regularly. Whenever there was an event, Lee would be there to help out. Never a leader but always a quiet example of a gentleman. Lee was remembered last Sunday at a memorial service at TAS.
As I reflect on the last three years, I realize how much enjoyment I have had being a part of MoTAS and with being associated with such a fine group of friends. My leadership team of Larry Pfefer, Russ Rapoport, Roger Lowe, Hal Bass, past president Daniel Faigin and my counselors Bob Levine and Brian Hatkoff helped make MoTAS a well-oiled machine. I thank them for their assistance and friendship. Our incoming president, Larry, is well prepared to take the helm and continue our success. I know that our incoming Vice Presidents, Scott Gore and Edward Lapporte, will be ready to help out and bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm. Join me in wishing all of them the best of luck in the coming year!
2020-21 was a very different year for The Men of TAS. We were only been able to meet online and could not carry out many of the activities for which we are normally depended upon. We missed our Shabbabaque, building the Sukkah, helping Sisterhood with their boutique, holding our annual poker tournament fundraiser, etc. Even so, our monthly meeting attendance has shown the continued comradery of our bunch. We have met every financial obligation to the temple and our religious school communities.
I am most proud that MoTAS used a portion of our Sports Squares proceeds to benefit a dozen families who lost work due to the pandemic and were in dire financial need. If helping members in need is not helping TAS, I don’t know what else would be. I do know that, based on the publication of our efforts, a number of other families independently followed suit to support those families. In addition, MoTAS paid for the complete provision and integration of the Temple’s new WiFi system. I did have to promise Rabbi Becky that you guys would limit your checking of Dodger scores during Shabbat services. MoTAS also paid for part of the painting of the Social Hall kitchen. Thanks to all of you for helping make our Sports Squares and annual appeal successful. And especially, thanks to Bob Levine and our Gridmaven, Kathy Pullman, for administrating our Sports Squares program.
A special thanks also to Daniel Faigin, our Master of Publicity and digital media. He does so much behind the scenes to benefit our group and our activities.
Lastly, I would like to thank our major benefactors who have been strong champions of MoTAS. The Krowne, Miles, Friedman, Handler, Silverstein, Kantor, Lucks and Hilecher families have been significant MoTAS contributors for 20 years to ensure our big fundraising activities are successful. And just as importantly, thanks to all the active members of MOTAS who personally donate to our fundraising events.
Wishing all of you the best,
Howard Miller
Past President
The Men of TAS
JEWISH MEN WITH TOOLS (MoTAS) are tentatively scheduled to build our temple Sukkah on Sunday September 19 at 9am, after a brief status update. This easy job can be completed in about an hour. Please come with gloves, Allen wrenches, and friends. Please let Howard (president@tasnorthridge-motas.org) know if YOU can shop for chicken wire and phone ties. AND, as Valley Crest is not offering palm fronds, please let us know if you know where we can get them. If YOU have a truck available to pick up the palm fronds, we would appreciate that also. We will have bagels and drinks. Please let us know if you can be there to help out!
If you have a Simcha you want to share, click here for the link to submit your Simcha. Submissions will be due no later than the last day of the month prior to the month of publication. We are now taking July submissions to be listed in August 2021. For more details or questions contact Bob Levine. If you are interested in making a donation to TAS in honor of your Simcha, click here. A donation is not required to submit your Simcha.
Did you know you can pay MoTAS via EFT. If your bank is connected to Zelle (or you have the Zelle) app, you can add MoTAS to your list of Zelle recipients: Name of Business: Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom, Email: treasurer@tasnorthridge-motas.org . If you aren’t connected to Zelle, you can go to https://www.zellepay.com/get-started and see if your bank or credit union is on the list; if not, you can still connect via the Zelle app (download at https://www.zellepay.com/go/zelle ).
Note that you can also pay MoTAS via Venmo to the same email address treasurer@tasnorthridge-motas.org . Just make sure to indicate the payment is person to person, not for goods or services, so that we don’t incur a fee. Paypal is more likely to charge a fee; however, if you do a person to person transfer to onlinesales@tasnorthridge-motas.org from a bank account, there isn’t a fee. If you indicate it is for goods or services, or if you use a credit card, there is a fee.
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. Come be part of the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom!
Join us for the last meeting of the 2020-21 year this Sunday, June 13. The business portion of the meeting starts at 9:00am. Anyone who would like to join for just the program should get on our Zoom call by 9:45.
The topic for the meeting program will be “Jewish Players in Major League Baseball”. If you thought Sandy Koufax was the only professional Jewish baseball player you will be very surprised. Our Presenter will be Rabbi Rebeccah Yussman, daughter of renown L.A. Dodger fans Les and Mel Birken.
Meeting details:
We are all hoping that this will be our last required Zoom meeting. Next Fall in Jerusalem, or at least the TAS Activity Center. Once again, congratulations to our new officers who will be leading our fine group starting in July:
If you have a Simcha you want to share, click here for the link to submit your Simcha. Submissions will be due no later than the last day of the month prior to the month of publication. We are now taking June submissions to be listed in July 2021. For more details or questions contact Bob Levine. If you are interested in making a donation to TAS in honor of your Simcha, click here. A donation is not required to submit your Simcha.
The first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration is now history. In the United States, no one talked that much about the importance of a president’s first 100 days—until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933. He took swift action to calm the nation’s crippling financial panic (cue the Emergency Banking Act and the “fireside chats” that became Roosevelt’s signature) and began rolling out the programs that made up his New Deal, including 15 major pieces of legislation in the first 100 days. John F. Kennedy ordered the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion 87 days into his presidency. At a time when the U.S. and USSR were locked in the Cold War, JFK’s first 100 days also saw the Soviets launch the first human into space. On Day 1, Ronald Reagan started off with a bang, announcing the release of U.S. diplomats being held hostage in Iran. Sixty-nine days into his administration, he survived an assassination attempt. Barack Obama — who like FDR took office during a severe financial crisis—was able to get Congress to sign a $787 million stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, on his 29th day in office.
This virtual talk will explore the First 100 Days (Give Or Take) of the Biden – Harris Administration as seen through a Jewish lens. The speaker, Rabbi David Saperstein, is the Director Emeritus of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, representing the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest segment of American Jewry, to the U.S. Congress and Administration. Between 2015 and 2017, Rabbi Saperstein served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, carrying out his responsibilities as the country’s chief diplomat on religious freedom issues. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Center for Jewish Civilization and as a Distinguished Fellow at the PM Glynn Center at the Australian Catholic University.
The talk will be Monday, June 21, 2021 at 5pm Pacific. To register, click here.
MoTAS held its first get-together in 15 months on Sunday June 6 in order to honor Dr. Hal Bass as our 2021 Man of the Year. Howard Miller presented Hal a plaque from the Western Region Men of Reform Judaism. Hal was recognized for his years of service as Secretary to MoTAS, for the many interesting presentations he has made for our monthly programs, for organizing the memorable Veterans Shabbat Service last November, and for continually being among the first to offer help in organizing and executing many of our activities. A note from last year’s MOY awardee, Les Birken, was read by Larry Pfefer. Brian Hatkoff, current President of the MRJ Western Region, and incoming Vice President of the national board of MRJ, also provided congratulations from the umbrella organization. Congratulations once again to Hal!
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. Come be part of the Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom!
Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom 