Federation Star - July-August 2018

SYNAGOGUES
July/August 2018 Federation Star
27
Beth Tikvah update
Phil
Jason
President
BETH TIKVAH www.bethtikvahnaples.org / 239-434-1818
Beth Tikvah continues to build
its presence as a major force in
Jewish community life. As the
sponsor of the highly successful Naples
Jewish Film Festival, we have made
an enormous impact in the community
over the last five years. Year five was
truly outstanding. We enjoyed an inspiring
Veterans Day program; a moving
and uplifting Israel Night, celebrating
Israel’s birthday and remembering its
citizen soldiers for defending it; and
our Lag B’Omer picnic, as always, was
just plain fun.
Recent initiatives, such as concerts
by Night Train and the Jewish Jazz
group have been well-received and will
be repeated. We are looking for similar
events.
Our Rosh Chodesh Women’s Group
brings friendship and intellectual stimulation.
So does our lecture series with
such speakers as Jeff Margolis, Dr. June
Sochen, Joyce Schrager, Sam Geist and
Neil Adelman – whom we expect back
again. We will be adding two healthrelated
lectures. These will be sponsored
by the Poznansky family in memory of
Dulcie Poznansky.
By hosting several sessions of the
highly successful Collier County Jewish
Book Festival, we continued to play a
major role. Our volunteer team was a
great asset to the festival. We had the
good fortune of being the home for Abigail
Pogrebin’s fabulous presentation.
Beth Tikvah will continue to support
what will soon be called the Greater
Naples Jewish Book Festival.
This past season’s Scholar-in-
Residence, Rodger Kamenetz, shared
interesting perspectives on the Jewish
experience. We hope to once again
invite a dynamic guest scholar. Recommendations
welcome. Several times
during the winter season, we’ve mixed
food with food for thought at our Friday
night “Eat & Learn” Shabbat Dinners,
and we will do so again.
Thanks to the spirited and dynamic
leadership of Rabbi Chorny and his
stimulating course offerings, we are
maturing without growing complacent.
This year we added a member-speaker:
Ron Agronin.
Beth Tikvah continues to develop
as a major spiritual, cultural and educational
organization. Going forward,
we seek to build on the past to offer
a full range of programs for a diverse
membership of various backgrounds,
ages and needs.
Our Sunday School resumes on
August 26 at 9:00 a.m.; Hebrew School
launches on Thursday, August 30 at
4:30 p.m.
Look for a Founders’ Shabbat this
winter. Look for our new Adult Bat
Mitzvah program. Look for a very
special Veterans Day event on Sunday,
November 11 with a service at 9:00 a.m.
followed by a breakfast and salute to our
military veterans. Look for the return of
Deli Night on December 24.
With the High Holy Day season
approaching, we urge you to consider
spending all or part of it at Beth Tikvah.
Information will be available on our
website. On Saturday September 1, we
prepare with Selichot prayers, following
a film and discussion beginning at
7:30 p.m.
Beth Tikvah has a new lease, a
plan for more elbow room, and a new
contract with our talented, dedicated
rabbi. We anticipate another dynamic
and uplifting year, complete with new
members, new programs, and a greater
confidence in our ability to meet the
challenges that lie ahead.
Religious services
Friday services begin at 6:15 p.m. “In
season” they follow a “social hour” at
5:30 p.m. Enjoy friendship, wine and
a nibble. Saturday services begin at
9:30 a.m. and conclude with a Kiddush
luncheon. Sunday 9:00 a.m. minyan
through the winter and early spring. We
regularly convene Yahrzeit minyanim
upon request. Please join us at any service.
Our participatory worship services
and most other events are held at 1459
Pine Ridge Road, just west of Mission
Square Plaza. For more information,
call 239.434.1818, email bethtikvah
naples@aol.com or visit www.bethtik
vahnaples.org. You can reach Rabbi
Chorny directly at 239.537.5257.
NAPLES JEWISH CONGREGATION www.naplesjewishcongregation.org / 239-431-3858
How NJC can enrich your life
Steve
McCloskey
President
As we approach another High
Holy Days, we give pause to
reflect on what role a congregation
can play in our lives. For some,
it is spiritual, and for others it is social,
educational or action-oriented, such as
the pursuit of social justice. Whatever
role you are seeking in a congregation,
Naples Jewish Congregation (NJC) can
help you to fulfill your aspirations.
NJC has an outstanding spiritual
leader in Rabbi Howard Herman. Our
services are inspirational and meaningful
and reflect his mastery as a teacher.
His sermons are an adroit fusion of the
topical and the biblical, typically tinged
with a social justice inflection point. His
overarching message is one of encouraging
us to step outside of ourselves to
do something to make a difference in
the lives of others, thereby furthering
the Judaic goal to practice tikkun olam.
Our services, both Friday night and
Saturday morning, and our High Holy
Days services are infused with joyous
song from our talented and enthusiastic
Cantorial Soloist, Jane Galler, whose
zest for life is channeled through her
music, all wonderfully complemented
by the accompaniment of our talented
Music Director, Alla Gorelik, and the
spirited renditions of our choir. Our services
are a perfect blend of the spiritual,
educational and the musical, designed to
uplift us and to inspire us to do good for
ourselves and the community.
Speaking of doing good, in the spirit
of tikkun olam, NJC’s newly formed
Social Justice Committee will be partnering
with the Universalist Unitarian
Congregation of Greater Naples, which
is steeped in the social justice tradition,
on some worthwhile projects designed
to expose some of our interested members
to that work. Two of the projects
we are thinking about are the Weekend
Meals Program and Food Angels. As
NJC’s Social Justice Committee pursues
its community-based projects, we
will carry on the dedication of Reform
Judaism to social justice.
In terms of making social connections
for our members to strengthen the
social fabric of NJC, another initiative
that we will be working on is to form
an NJC Havurah which will, at least
at the outset, seek to solidify the ties
among our more established members
and integrate our newer members more
fully into NJC life. Once we get our
Havurah well underway, we can then
seek to involve the Havurah in other
aspects of Jewish life, such as cultural
or educational activities and programs.
The essence of the Havurah is its function
to facilitate lasting relationships
among our members, which makes our
community stronger.
Another focus for NJC this coming
year will be to create and foster interfaith
relationships with other faiths. A natural
fit for NJC is the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation, where we worship. NJC
and the “UU” are philosophically and
spiritually attuned and grounded in the
same pragmatic, service-based approach
to religion. We will most likely begin
with a Thanksgiving interfaith service
with the “UU.” We will also be reaching
out to the Islamic Center of Naples to
begin a dialogue with them to explore
ways to connect with and learn from
each other.
If you have never worshiped with us
at NJC for the High Holy Days, please
take advantage of our complimentary
tickets, as set forth in our ad in this issue.
We have Rabbi Herman’s installation
as NJC’s Rabbi on Friday, October 19,
with special guest Julie Silver, as well as
a panoply of exciting events throughout
the year, which will be chronicled in the
Federation Star in the coming months.
Please come to worship with us to experience
the NJC difference.
JEWISH CONGREGATION OF MARCO ISLAND www.marcojcmi.com / 239-642-0800
In recognition of Dick Lerner
and in Memoriam to Sandra Lerner
By Sue R. Baum, President
The Jewish Congregation of
Marco Island would like to recognize
two of our most devoted
congregants, Dick Lerner and his wife,
the late Sandy Lerner. The Lerners and
their family have gifted JCMI their time,
talents and generosity, including stateof-the-art
sound system equipment and
updated computers in our office.
Dick and Sandy were longtime
members of the Bingo Committee
and contributed to the success of this
important synagogue event. For many
years, Sandy served as the synagogue’s
representative to the annual Women’s
Interfaith Breakfast Committee. When
it was JCMI’S turn to host the annual
breakfast, Sandy coordinated and presented
an outstanding breakfast and
program.
Sandy passed away January 30,
2018. In her memory, Dick has donated
much needed audiovisual equipment
including a new projector, Blu-ray DVD
player, and an electric movie screen
which comes down from the ceiling
with just a press of a button. Our screen,
most-often used during our Sidney R.
Hoffman Jewish Film Festival, had
deteriorated to the point where we were
using Gorilla Tape to hold it together.
We thank Dick for his donations
to help improve our synagogue and
which serve to keep Sandy’s memory
alive.
riefs...continued from page 23
is indeed characterized by a trend of declining
fertility rates that is particularly
marked in developed countries. In 2015,
the average fertility rate of women in
the 35-member OECD was at 1.68 children
per woman over the length of her
childbearing years – below the average
“replacement rate” of 2.1.
However, in the last generation,
higher educational and income levels
among Israeli Jews have correlated
with a marked rise in fertility. In 2015,
Israel’s fertility rate in both Jewish and
Arab sectors was 3.13. In 2000, Israeli
Arab fertility was 4.5, while the Jewish
rate was 2.6. Meanwhile, the Jewish
rate continues to rise, with an estimate
for 2017 of 3.16.
Since the beginning of the 21 st
century, fertility has risen by 15-20%
among most sectors of Israeli Jewish
society. It is attributable to the combined
decisions by millions of Jewish women
and men of all Israeli social groups,
variously described as traditionalist,
non-religious or even secular, who have
chosen to have many more children.
(Ofir Haivry, an Israeli historian and
political theorist, and vice president
of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem,
Mosaic)
For daily news stories related to
Israel & the Jewish world,
visit the Federation’s website
at www.jewishnaples.org.