Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Upcoming Activities

Reconstructionist “Virtual Bet Midrash”

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jewish_recon_logo_0Jewish Reconstructionist Communities (JRC), the Reconstructionist movement’s umbrella organization, is offering a new distance learning opportunity that individuals all over the country can participate in. The “Virtual Bet Midrash” (Virtual House of Study) is a series of learning sessions taught by leaders in the Reconstructionist movement. Each session is presented using a conference call format, and subsequently made available as a recording. The series runs from February through April 2015. The next teaching will be February 19, “Jewish Prayer in a Time of Eco-Crisis,” taught by Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde. Rabbi Jacobs-Velde is the co-founder of ZMANIM (www.zmanim-seasons.org), an organization that explores and celebrates connections between Judaism and the natural world. For a full listing of the sessions and to register, go to Virtual Bet Midrash.

Getting together with a friend may be a fun way to study. If you do decide to take part, let me (Clare) know; we’d love to have you write a blog post about the session or the series!

Time to think about Camp Tavor

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Thanks to Shani Samuel for sharing her thoughts on Camp Tavor.

My name is Shani Samuel and I help out at the AARC Beit Sefer on Sundays as a teachers assistant and tutor for the 3rd and 4rth graders of the AARC. Although my role is as a teacher, I am still in the process of learning. It might sound a bit strange, but a lot of that learning comes from my summer camp, Camp Tavor.

Tavor-Shani2Tavor provides a framework for informal education where kids between 3rd grade and college age can discuss and learn about Judaism, and topics related to it, in a way which engages and encourages each child to think about and develop their own Jewish identity.

Tavor is my home away from home, and the friends I made there are some of my best. It is an open and accepting environment, where people can really be themselves, and can connect to each other without all the cliquishness and pretension that they face at home.

For more info on Camp Tavor, please visit the Camp Tavor website.

All are welcome at either of two upcoming Ann Arbor info sessions on Camp Tavor

Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015,  4:30pm-6:00pm
at the Home of Dana Horowitz and Avram Kluger
2510 Kimberley Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
or
Monday, Feb. 9, 2015,  3:00-4:00
Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor
2937 Birch Hollow Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Questions?  Call Brittany, 224-619-5969

Also feel free to ask the Lessure/Engelbert family,  Zivan family,  Lowenstein family,  Samuel family,  Deb Kraus, Eisbruch family or  Salzman/Newell family about their kids’ Tavor experience.

Connecting Food & Faith

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Thursday, Jan. 22, 7 pm
Panel Discussion at Ann Arbor District Library, downtown (343 South Fifth Avenue)
Multi-Purpose Room

Chuck Warpehoski, the Director of Ann Arbor’s Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, will moderate a discussion among a variety of different faith perspectives, about how, and why, people of faith link what, and how, they eat to their values and beliefs.

Panelists will include:

  • Reverend Kristin Riegel, First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor
  • Cathy Muha, Mindful Eating Coalition leader, First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor
  • Carole Caplan, Jewish Alliance of Food, Land & Justice / Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation
  • Mansoor Qureshi, President, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Michigan
  • Julie Ritter and Colleen Retherford, Jewel Heart Ann Arbor

honey

Edible Home Landscapes: From saving seeds to harvesting from your trees

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Edible Landscapes

Sunday, February 1, 2015, 1 pm – 3 pm, at the JCC
Join us in honor of Shmita and Tu B’shevat

Think beyond grocery stores, farmers markets, and CSAs – what if healthy foods were right outside your kitchen door?

Local plant guru Erica Kempter from Nature and Nurture Seeds will educate us on soils, seeds, and trees needed to create edible landscapes at home.

Dialogue, text study, hands-on learning, and refreshments.

Admission is free, but please pre-register!

Event is at the JCC, 2935 Birch Hollow Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108.

Organized by the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation, Pardes Hannah and the Jewish Alliance for Food, Land, and Justice.

This event made possible in part with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor.

Tu B’Shevat Potluck/Seder (Tues. Feb. 3)

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Tree-with-animals-(green-tint)Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar, marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle. An ecological approach to this holiday considers human interaction with the natural environment, a mystical approach considers human interaction within a spiritual environment.  After a potluck dinner at 6:30 pm, we will explore both through a Tu B’shevat seder of fruits, nuts, wine, and juice.

It’s all happening at Carole Caplan’s house.  Please RSVP to Carole (caplan.carole@gmail.com or 847-922-9693); she’ll send you the address and directions.

OR, if you’d like to have your own seder, here’s a guide you might use, from member Ellen Dannin.

January Community Learning–Sunday morning

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Everyone is invited to join the Beit Sefer students in their learning about mitzvot/commandments. Our study will dovetail with the second session of the guided reading series that began last week (yes, you can still join this!) We will explore the nature and history of Judaism’s system of laws and ethics, its evolution over the centuries and what our own relationships with this concept in our lives.

Join us at 10am on Sunday, January 18th at the JCC. Preparatory reading materials will be available via email in advance or at 9:30 that morning.  To receive/reserve study materials or for any other questions about learning at the AARC contact Rav Michal.

Never a Bystander: Free Screening Followed by Q&A

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Filmmaker Evelyn Neuhaus and film subject Irene Butter at the premiere in May, 2014.
Filmmaker Evelyn Neuhaus and film subject Irene Butter at the premiere in May, 2014.

AARC Member Evelyn Neuhaus has created a documentary about Irene Butter, who has spent nearly 30 years visiting schools and inspiring countless children to find the courage to take compassionate action and transcend obstacles.  The film is about making courageous choices in the face of injustice.  It’s 30 minutes long and will be screened this Sunday at the JCC, followed by Q&A with Evelyn and Irene Butter.

Sunday, January 11, 4pm at the JCC (2935 Birch Hollow Drive).  Admission is Free

More information about the film is available at its website.  A flyer for the screening is here.

Hanukkah – Six more nights to go! (by Carol Lessure)

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Menorahs

Hanukkah! Whether you spell it with an H or Ch, this little festival always provides my family with much fun and delight. What better way to illuminate our path into those long winter nights than with a communal candle lighting? We have three upcoming opportunities at AARC to celebrate together.  We return to the JCC this year for a latke dinner and musical Hanukkah party; plus two hosts are offering home based celebrations for all to enjoy. Click on this google document to register and for more information on locations: just scroll down and add your name to the event you plan to attend.

Erev Shabbat Dinner (12/19)
Host: Mike Ehmann, mtehmann@comcast.net
Please let Mike know that you are coming and what you plan to bring to share.

The AARC Hanukkah Party and Latke Feast (12/20)
We will start with Havdalah around 5:45 (a great way to practice what we learned at Shabbat Seder). Then we’ll have a  communal lighting of our chanukkiahs. There will be latkes and a light meal, live music by band members Paul, Laurie and Jesse, dreidel  (of course) plus other games from the Lessure Engelbert family.

Please RSVP so we can have enough latkes, salad, fruit and chocolate gelt!  (Pst: there will be some wine for grownups too.) All you need to bring is your appetite, chanukkiah with 6 candles, and helping hands.  Dinner is $10 for adults/ $5 for children under 12.

The Last Night of Hanukkah (12/23)
Hosts: Rav Michal, Jon and Sima
Your hosts will prepare donuts, and you can bring a dish to share. Contact Rav Michal for more details and be sure to sign up so they know who is coming.

Hanukkah 2013 at Michal's House

More on Shmita: December 7 Event

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Bus Tour Picture
From the last Shmita event, the Food, Land, & Justice Bus Tour (Sept. 14, 2014)

By AARC Member Carole Caplan, for the Washtenaw Jewish News

On December 7, 2014, the community is invited to gather at St. Joe’s Hospital to explore how the Jewish teachings of Shmita are coming to life through the impact of regional institutions and their commitments to local, healthy food.

Meet at St. Joe’s Women’s Health Center, 5320 Elliot Dr, Ypsilanti.
1:00pm-3:30pm.
Free.
For information, contact Carole Caplan at carolecaplan@livebychoice.com, or Idelle Hammond- Sass at Hammond_sass@msn.com

For the year’s Shmita activities, see this page.

The event is a continuation of an exciting year-long exploration of the teachings of Shmita, funded by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor late last winter. “For me, the commandments of shmita can be seen as a built-in seventh year wake-up call,” said AARC member Carole Caplan, who is co-chairing the event with fellow congregant Idelle Hammond-Sass. Caplan explains that “Shmita, which means ‘release’, is the opportunity to become conscious of our relationships with each other, with the environment, and with our understanding of true health, nourishment, and ‘enough-ness’. Just as Shabbat is an opportunity to re-set our ideas about production and consumption on a personal level, Shmita provides us with a unique and important opportunity to re-imagine and reset our practices regarding food production and consumption in and beyond our own homes out into our communities.”

AARC member and owner of Locavorious, Rena Basch, agrees. “Modern philosophy on how to celebrate and honor the Shmita years recommends we take the time to re-imagine society, re-lease the land and re-think farming”. Basch, who began working in the local sustainable food movement in 2006, founded Locavorious, a locally grown frozen fruit and vegetable CSA here in Ann Arbor. “Do you wonder how we, and our community, our congregations, our schools, and our institutions can support the values and intentions of this Shmita tradition?” Basch questioned. “This event will introduce us [Read more…] about More on Shmita: December 7 Event

Why another book club?

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By Judith Jacobs

When I first heard that the AARC was forming a book club, I thought it was a good idea. After thinking about it, I asked myself “Why join another book club, when you already belong to two?” I decided to give it a try and here is what I learned:

The book selection can be described as eclectic. We read about China’s reaction to protests and the tragedies at Tiananmen Square and how they have ben wiped from people’s memories and are not considered a significant part of China’s history. We enjoyed visiting The Worlds of Sholom Aleichem. I found that a particular delight because his world in Russia was my family’s world and he left Russia around the time my great uncle left. “The Seven Beggars was a disaster for me. I did not understand anything that Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was telling us. Our last book, The Dalai Lama’s Cat, was an absolute delight. What could be bad? Here was a book about a prescient cat and Buddhism.

The real treat of the book club has been getting to know members of the congregation in a whole new way. People’s stories always are interesting and such a diverse group of people brings many different perspectives to the discussion.

Try the book club. It will be a different take on the AARC.

Books read so far in 2014 and 2015:

  • November: The Dalai Lama’s Cat, by David Michie.
  • October:  “The Seven Beggars,” a short story by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
  • September: The Worlds of Sholom Aleichem: The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of the Man Who Created Tevye, by Jeremy Dauber
  • August: The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, by Louisa Lim.

[Book club meetings are on the Calendar, and are included in the Monday Mailer–subscribe at the right on this page.]

See also  Happy 5th birthday to the AARC Book Club (Click Here) from October 2019