Shofar June 2019

Iyar/Sivan 5779 June 2019

She also served for seven
years as the Director of the
Commission on Social Action
of Reform Judaism and
directed the Union’s
Department of Social Action.

Sisterhood of B’nai Israel is During Erev Shabbat
Services Rabbi Feldman will
excited to announce that be discussing Women of the
Rabbi Marla Feldman, Wall and the ways in which
Executive Director of WRJ WRJ advances gender
will join our congregation for equality in Israel, the U.S.
Sisterhood’s Bat Mitzvah and throughout the world.
weekend, June 7th and 8th. During our Shabbat morning
Rabbi Marla J. Feldman Bat Mitzvah service, Rabbi
began her position as Feldman will share the history
Executive Director of Women of WRJ and the impact WRJ
of Reform Judaism in January has had over the years in
2012. Prior to taking this advancing women’s rights
position, Rabbi Feldman was and opening the doors to
the Director of Development women’s inclusion in religious
for the Union for Reform leadership.
Judaism.
Our Sisterhood
Board hopes you
will join us.

Inside this Issue

For membership information contact  Anniversaries……...5  Tribute Cards……...7
the office at (203) 267-3394  Birthdays…………...5  Upcoming Events…6
 Donations..…….…..2  Yahrzeits.…………..4
Our newest members:
 Onegs………….......5
 Sheila & William May

Donations Caring Fund Please note:
in memory of We continue to strive to be as
Rabbi’s Discretionary Benjamin Ross budget conscious as possible.
Fund Marjorie Ross Therefore, due to high fees, we
in memory of Ethel Goldberg can no longer accept
Juanita Chichester Marjorie Ross American Express.
Herbert Garber Marjorie Menaker We apologize for any
Aaron Frenkel Marjorie Ross inconvenience.
Rose & Sidney Frenkel
Ethel Goldberg Music Fund Did you know that donations to
Carol & Bob Weil in memory of any of our funds can be made di-
Ethel Goldberg Ethel Goldberg rectly from our website? Just go
Deborah Garber Antonietta & Wayne Hallet to: www.bnaiisraelsouthbury.org
Ethel Goldberg Eli Gleiberman and click on the “donate/
Doris & Joel Abramson Sheila Baum scholarship” link at the top our
Ethel Goldberg homepage.
Rabbi’s Discretionary Rachel & Jonathan Albert
Fund Mazel Tov!!
in honor of Music Fund
Placement of memorial in honor of Jess & Max Zimmerman
plaque memorializing Linda Goodman’s
Ruth Littman Birthday & evening of
Jon Littman uplifting joy
Emily Eisen Eleanor Saperstein
Linda Goodman’s 70th
General Fund birthday
in honor of Rabbi & Ellen Polokoff
Rabbi Polokoff College graduations of
Newtown High School Rebekka Rosen & Mia
Polokoff
General Fund Linda & Dan Goodman
in memory of
Lois Zeidler Ritual Fund
Matthew Mandelberg in memory of
Ethel Goldberg Charles Light
Rose & Sidney Frenkel Dawn & Bob Tendler
Ethel Goldberg Ethel Goldberg
Sherman London Dawn & Bob Tendler
Marvin Rechtman
Lisa Segal Ritual Fund
Ethel Goldberg in honor of
Sheila & Nick Tetreault Friendship of Valerie &
Maria
Adult Education Fund Sharon Goldman
in memory of Wedding of Max & Jess
Ethel Goldberg Zimmerman
Rochelle & Earl Dawn & Bob Tendler
Gershenow Wedding of Max
Ethel Goldberg Zimmerman & Jessica
Sharon & Ira Goldman Lee
Sharon & Ira Goldman
Education Fund
in memory of Thank you!
George S. Wale
Judith Feinman

2

B’NAI ISRAEL JUDAICA SHOP

At B’nai Israel’s Judaica Monsignor Donnelly 3 amigos at
shop, you can choose from Imam Gazi the mosque
a large selection of Tallit in
varying sizes and materials, Rabbi Polokoff
many made in Israel.

Many styles of Kippot are
also available and can be
customized with your child’s
name in Hebrew and/or
English.

Please browse through our
catalogs for candlesticks,
mezuzot and other ritual
items for yourself or for gift
giving!

Make it a

mitzvah!

When you purchase your
Kippot and/or a Tallit from
B’nai Israel’s Judaica shop,
a donation will be made to
BIRS in honor of your child’s
Bar or Bat Mitzvah!

For more information call:

Michelle Rosen
(516) 320-5089

3

Yahrzeits 6/14 6/21 6/28
George Feitelson Oscar A. Bieber Robert Agin
6/7 Lillian Mann Goldberg Herman Effren William Barnet II
Phillip Goldberg Harry Fleisher Regina Blum
Paul Blatter Ruth Goldman Harry Goldfarb Elizabeth Cohen
Ida Jacowitz Bessie Greene Constance A. Cryne
Lillian Cieply Rose Johnson Ray Hochheiser Clara Dolberg
Beverly Danen Kitty Kaplan Elizabeth Jensen Jules M. Don
Ida Deutsch Louis A. Leopold Victor Jensen Mae Frank Fishman
Morris Frank Elizabeth Levine Michael Karal Joseph Garber
Henrietta Trier Greenberg Max Matzkin Howard Klausner George Getnick
Adam Landau Arthur Rothschild Mitchell Klausner Toby David Goldfarb
Charlotta Landau Dora Kramer Shapiro Jacob Kovner Irwin Hahn
Henry Landau Isidore Shapiro Jacob Lamhut Charles Herrmann
Mark Landau Arthur Silver Jack Markowitz William Lesser
Roze Landau David Stein Lillian Oratz Jeanette Matzkin
Rebecca Levin Edward Steingart Carl Ravitz May Millman
Eli Mintz Bernice Weinstein Beckie Rubin Sallie Nadel
Max Oberman Norman Shohet Bertha Pollak
Gertrude Ravitz Daniel Slater Charles Rosenberg
Mayta Saper Hazel Slattery Pauline Infeld Schecter
Erwin Weissmann Florence Stammelman Fannie Schiff
W. Theodore Whitman Frances Yavetz Julius Spearo
Dora Furrer Yelin

Names indicated in bold have
plaques on Memorial Boards in
the rear of the Sanctuary.

A gentle The Ritual Committee is requesting donations of
reminder that any
account balance new or gently used tallitot to enhance the current
must be paid ASAP. inventory for the wooden stand outside the
Please call the office if you have sanctuary donated by last year’s B’nai Mitzvah
any questions. (203) 267-3394 class and lovingly crafted by Andrew Peklo. As a
Reform congregation we understand that some of
our congregants may choose to wear a tallit to
enrich their worship experience.

(No kippot donations please.)

Host an Oneg

Call Sandy Marcus at
(203) 264-9136
if you are interested

in hosting an Oneg or
joining the committee

4

6/07 Birthday Shabbat Birthdays 6/16 Jerry Beilinson
Sisterhood in honor Rose Frenkel
of its Bat Mitzvah 6/02 Lee Greenwald Morgan Rosen
6/06 Dave Hawthorne
6/14 The Bree/Reps family in 6/07 Susan Fishman 6/17 Samantha Sorcher
honor of Hanna’s Bat Mitzvah 6/08 Jake Albert Maya Williams
6/09 Hannah O’Brien
6/21 Available 6/19 Jordan Baron
6/28 The Hozer family in honor of Joshua Wilson Elliot Linnetz
6/10 Jared Cocomazzi Sary Ritchie
Jaden’s Bar Mitzvah
Jessica Cocomazzi 6/20 Doris Landaeta
Want to sponsor an Oneg ? Michael Friedman 6/21 Robert Ritchie
contact: 6/11 Michele Gerstenfeld
Rebecca Ross Allen Schwartz
Sandy Marcus at (203) 264-9136 Margi Sermer 6/22 Aaron McConnon
6/12 Randi Brandt 6/23 Bea Gold
“Tree of Life” Charlene Falk 6/24 Patricia Schwartz
Suzanne Isaac 6/25 Jonathan Albert
Purchase a leaf on the Merri Klar
“Tree of Life” to honor a Calvin Turin Eugene Mirrer
simcha. Each leaf is $180 6/13 Ariel Price Arthur Phillips
Lionel Schwartz Rudy Zeidler
(203) 267-3394 Eryn Wassa 6/27 Samantha Albert
6/14 Jane Mahler 6/28 Len Ross
6/15 Marlyse Duguid 6/29 Landon Burwin
Louis Klein 6/30 Nancy Becker
Kenneth Kohanski Lilian Senich

Anniversaries

6/02 Ina & Irv Borenzweig
6/06 Amy & Gregory Davis
6/10 Pat & Matt Magida
6/11 Judy & Joel Sherman

Elaine & Calvin Turin
6/12 Gina & Jesse Fry
6/13 Nancy & Joel Becker
6/14 Sandra Gold & Paul Medina
6/16 Marcy & Philip Feinman
6/17 Judith & Sam Lamhut
6/20 Heather & Burt Cieply

Linda & Haskel Schiff
6/22 Celia & Lionel Schwartz
6/25 Hadar Lubin & David Johnson
6/27 Barb & Arthur Phillips

Carol & Robert Weil
6/28 Jan & Eric Albert

Fran & Jerry Beilinson
Jennifer & Adam Burwin

5

Students at B’nai Israel Religious School enjoyed an animal-
filled spring! Thanks to a grant from The Jewish Federation
of Western CT, students learned how animals are connected
to Judaism. Learning included animals portrayed in Bible
stories, such as Noah’s Ark and Jonah and the Big
Fish. Students learned about the mitzvah of caring for
animals, and how animals help humans thrive, such as
seeing eye dogs and comfort dogs. Several students helped
this year at local animal shelters and collected donations for
them. For her mitzvah project, seventh grader Rachel Rubel
volunteered at Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and spoke
about her experience at an Erev Shabbat service. Students
practiced Hebrew fluency with a group of great canine
listeners from Newtown Strong Therapy Dogs, as part of a
national Reading Paws movement to help reluctant readers
improve literacy skills. As one comfort dog volunteer shared,
“Our dogs never heard Hebrew before! How wonderful that
the children read to them in Hebrew today.”

Lauren Bearz reads to therapy dog

Sunday, May 19 was Mitzvah Day at B’nai Israel Newtown Strong Therapy Dogs visit
Religious School. SIxty students from Kindergarten
through Confirmation and teen volunteers participated Photo: Thanks to Michael Friedman Orthodontics for
in a “morning of service” throughout the community. sponsoring this year’s Mitzvah Day Pizza Lunch.
Mitzvah projects included singing to elderly residents 6
at The Watermark, helping Companion Pet Rescue
with a dog adoption event, painting picnic tables at
Flanders Nature Center, prepping our synagogue’s
mitzvah garden for summer crops, organizing school
supplies, and helping at the Jewish Book Burial and
Dedication to Leo Goldberg at the Waterbury Jewish
Cemetery. After their morning of service, students
gathered back at BIRS to enjoy our annual Mitzvah
Day Pizza Lunch. This year’s Pizza Lunch was
sponsored by Michael Friedman Orthodontics.
Students “had a slice and gave a slice” by enjoying
free pizza while contributing enough tzedakah to
purchase four large pizzas for those who use the
Southbury Food Bank. Despite the rainy weather, this
year’s Mitzvah Day was very successful. Special
thanks go to congregants Jill Schoenfuss and Ellen
Zwang for helping to coordinate this important
community event.

Rabbi Tribute Cards
Eric Polokoff, D.D.
[email protected] From: Celia & Lionel Schwartz
To: Jack Tesler *Wishing you good health
Director of Sacred Music
Linda Goodman From: Rudy Zeidler
[email protected] To: Brina Goldberg *In memory of her beloved mother, Ethel
To: Alan Haberman *On the yarzheit of his beloved wife, Linda
School Director
Abby Peklo From: Joan & Arthur Oshins
[email protected] To: Brina Goldberg *In memory of her beloved mother, Ethel
To: Arlene Teplensky *Congratulations on the graduation of her 3 grandchildren:
Officers
Lisa Segal, President Evan, Madeline, & Remy
[email protected]
Steven Reps, 1st Vice President From: Dawn & Bob Tendler
Patti Berkowitz, 2nd Vice President To: Lou Hozer *Hope you feel better every day!
David Augenbraun, Treasurer
Sheri Kipperman, Secretary To purchase Tribute Cards, please
contact
Trustees
Rochelle Gershenow (2021) Doris Landaeta at
Joseph Hochheiser (2019) (203) 232-6206 or at
Joyce Hozer (2021) [email protected]
Jonathan Kapstein (2020) The cost per card is still only $5.00
Beth Rosen (2020)
Michelle Rosen (2019) including postage
Kim Rubel (2021)
Allen Schwartz (2020)
Pauline Zimmerman (2019)

Free kindergarten

Time to start thinking ahead!
B’nai Israel Religious School
offers free kindergarten to
all. For more information
please contact:

Abby Peklo, School Director
(203)267-3396

7

B’nai Israel PLACE
444 Main Street North STAMP
PO Box 350 HERE
Southbury, CT 06488
Phone: (203) 267-3394
Fax: (203) 405-7017
E-mail: [email protected]

www.bnaiisraelsouthbury.org