Bulletin

November, 2013 28 Cheshvan – 27 Kislev 5774 Vol. 11 Published Monthly

BNAI ABRAHAM SYNAGOGUE

DANIEL STEIN, RABBI ROBERT WEINER, PhD, CANTOR MARK SHRAGER, RABBI EMERITUS MORRIS SIEGEL, CANTOR EMERITUS, ZT”L

1545 BUSHKILL STREET • EASTON, PA 18042-3118 (610) 258-5343 • Fax: (610) 330-9100

www.bnaiabraham.org • email: office@bnaiabraham.org

THE

UNITED

SYNAGOGUE OF

CONSERVATIVE

JUDAISM

DISTRIBUTION NOTICE If you would like family members or others to receive a copy of the bulletin, please send name, address and $15 payment to Bnai Abraham.

If you have not sent your email address to Bnai Abraham office staff, please do so as soon as possible. We will be notifying congregants of emergencies and special events through email.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS The deadline for submitting items is November 17th. Please have all items to BAS office no later than November 17th. Any items received after that date will be published in the next month’s bulletin.

C O N T A C T S

Gerald Weisberger President & Programming Committee Chair

Howard Nathanson Youth Chair Shelly Blumenthal Gift Shop Chair Howard Nathanson Kadima Advisor Sara Levin Kadima Advisor Irwin Lewis, M.D. Men’s Club President &

Ritual Committee Chair Elaine Morrow Sisterhood President Ellen Lifschutz Choir Director Aliette and Marc Abo, MD Theatre Club Gerald Weisberger House Chair Marna Simon Membership Chair Lothar Gumberich Memorials & Torah

Restoration Committee

O F F I C E H O U R S:

Closed on Mondays and Fridays. Hours open: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Services/Minyan Schedule

Thursday: 7:25 AM Friday Night Services – 8:00 PM First Friday of Each Month – Simcha Shabbat: 6:30 PM Saturday: 9:30 AM Kiddush follows

If you require a special minyan, please notify the office at 610-258-5343.

A MESSAGE FROM RABBI DANIEL STEIN…

Several weeks ago, the Pew Research Center released the most recent Jewish population service. The results--which, predictably, have shown an increase in assimilation and a decrease in communal affiliation among liberal Jews--precipitated renewed rounds of handwringers and navel-gazing among Jewish communal leaders. And yet, at the same time, an unfolding narrative shows just how beneficial our status as assimilated Jews is to creative Jewish identity. I’m talking about Thanksgivukkah.

By now, you are likely aware that, for the only time in our lives, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day. Not surprisingly, this convergence has sparked the excitement of Jews throughout the United States. And why not? Thanksgiving was, for Jews of past generations, the first truly American ritual they were able to embrace. It celebrated blessings, gratitude, and family--values that resonated with American Jews. And there was the persistent notion that Thanksgiving was modeled on Sukkoth; as early as 1925, Ruth Henderson noted: “Our forefathers found scriptural excuse for being glad at this time of year in the Hebrew feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles. Nor was the parallel far-fetched, because the Israelites' festival of praise was for deliverance from oppression and for conquest in a strange land as well as for the bounties of harvest. It was a season for grateful remembrance and for rejoicing. Even those whose sowing had been in tears should reap in joy, and he that went forth weeping and bearing precious seed would "doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him.”

In fact, even Orthodox Jews, who eschewed secular holidays as “practices of the heathens,” embraced Thanksgiving. So, for instance, Moshe Feinstein, a deeply respected rabbi who lived on the Lower East Side, wrote: “On the issue of joining with those who think that Thanksgiving is like a holiday to eat a meal: since it is clear that according to their religious law books this day is not mentioned as a religious holiday and that one is not obligated in a meal [according to gentile religious law] and since this is a day of remembrance to citizens of this country, when they came to reside here either now or earlier, halacha sees no prohibition in celebrating with a meal or with the eating of turkey.”

A MESSAGE FROM RABBI DANIEL STEIN…(Continued)

So, this year finds American Judaism’s favorite civil holiday falling on the first day of American Judaism’s favorite religious observance. A wave of creativity has been unleashed. For instance, during David Paskin’s visit to Temple Covenant of Peace, he shared his new song, The Ballad of a Thanksgivukkah; the popular Buzzfeed has released a list of great recipes (Pecan pie ruggeluch? Yes, please!); and of course, the must-have accessory for the holiday--the Menurkey!

Although all of these items have an admittedly limited shelf life, they point to something that is missed by all the communal handwringers (and a fact that likely would have driven the anit-assimilationist Maccabees nuts): Judaism and Jewish acceptance in America is a tremendous blessing--one that allows for what might be the greatest period of Jewish innovation and creativity in our history. For that, this year, I am thankful. How will you celebrate Thanksgivukkah? Go to facebook.com/bnaiabraham and let us know!

Happy holidays, Rabbi Stein

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE …

During his remarks at a recent Shabbat morning service, the Rabbi stated that in the Lehigh Valley there are multiple weekly programs with specific interest in the area of Judaism.

At Bnai we hope to continue with this theme and have a wide number of programs on the upcoming agenda starting with this Weekend’s “Men’s Club” where Jessica Ytkin discussed the history of the Easton JCC, campsite, etc. We also are working on a celebration of our 60 year anniversary.

This weekend we will have a new format for Shabbat Services. We will have an abbreviated service followed by a lecture/discussion lead by Rabbi Stein concerning intermarriage in the Jewish community. If this program is successful, we hope to increase the frequency of this program.

I hope that you all have a great month.

Jerry Weisberger, President

BNAI ABRAHAM/TEMPLE COVENANT OF PEACE KNITTING GROUP DATE: WEDNESDAY MORNING – NOVEMBER 13, 2013 – TIME 10:30 A.M.

At the home of Jessica Ytkin, 2321 Woodridge Terrace, Easton, PA Please RSVP to Jessica via phone at 610-253-8251

BETHLEHEM/EASTON HADASSAH BOOK AND FILM CLUB TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013 at 1:30 P.M.

Film: The Other Son

At the home of Amy Cohen, 1804 Sycamore St., Bethlehem, PA Please RSVP by Phone: 610-867-5501.

MEN'S CLUB GALA DELUXE BRUNCH SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2013 at 10:00 A.M. – PRICE $6.00

The Outstanding PBS video "The Jewish Legacy on Broadway” from the Gershwin's to Irving Berlin, from Kerns to Bernstein, from Rogers and

Hammerstein to The Fiddler, from My Fair Lady to Cabaret to the Producers and more. Please RSVP ihlewismd@yahoo.com or call 610-253-2481.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2013

TIME: 6:30 P.M.

Please join us for our musical Simcha Shabbat on Friday, November 1st and stay for a special oneg to follow.

EASTON INTERFAITH CHOIR FESTIVAL SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2013 – TIME: 3:00 – 5:00 P.M.

Saint Anthony Of Padua Catholic Church Corner of 9th and Lehigh Sts.

Easton, PA

SAVE THE DATE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013

MENORAHS AND MEMORIES

Please join us for brunch at 9:45 a.m., talk at 10:00 a.m.

Jewish Family Service, 2004 Allen Street, Allentown, PA

"Menorahs and Memories." Show-and-Tell and Contest. Bring in your favorite menorah and share your memories of Chanukah.

Requested donation $3 per person. Please call 610-821-8722 by November 18th to make reservations.

BNAI ABRAHAM THANKSGIVUKKAH CELEBRATION SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2013 – TIME 11:00 A.M.

Unless you live to the year 79,811, you will never celebrate Thanksgivukkah again. So why not join the Bnai Abraham Religious

School on Sunday, November 24th at 11:00 a.m. for our once-in-a lifetime celebration? Where else will you have sweet potato latkes with

cranberry apple sauce?

Cost: $6.00 Per Person, to benefit the BAS Religious School.

To volunteer, please contact office@bnaiabraham.org

THANKSGIVING DAY MINYAN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013 – TIME 8:30 A.M.

WONDER OF WONDERS DECEMBER 1. 2013 – TIME: 10:30 A.M.

The article below is excerpted from Alisa Solomon's forthcoming "Wonder of Wonders;" she will be speaking at Bnai Abraham on Sunday, December 1.

On Jewishness, as the Fiddle Played By ALISA SOLOMON

“Fiddler on the Roof” — created by Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), Joseph Stein (book) and Jerome Robbins (direction and choreography) and based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem — was a blockbuster success when it opened in 1964, smashing all box office records in its day. The initial production played 3,242 performances, the longest-running show on Broadway for years. There have been four Broadway revivals and countless national tours; some 200 schools across the country put it on each year.

As the first work of American popular culture to recall life in a shtetl — the Eastern European market towns with large Jewish populations — “Fiddler” felt tender, elegiac, even holy. It arrived just ahead of (and helped to instigate) the American roots movement. It was added to multicultural curriculums and studied by students across the country in Jewish history units, as if “Fiddler” were an artifact unearthed from a destroyed world rather than a big-story musical assembled by showbiz professionals.

Beyond its continuing vibrant life in the theater, “Fiddler,” like no other musical before or since, has seeped into the culture more widely, functioning in sometimes contradictory ways, which makes sense, since the show’s essential gesture is dialectical: it looks backward and forward, favors both community and individual needs, honors the particular and the universal, struggles between stasis and change, bewails and celebrates. Tevye, the milkman hero, seems to be constantly caught in these opposing forces and, before our eyes, weighs the arguments of every dilemma — on the one hand, on the other hand ... .

“Fiddler” also regularly serves as a Jewish signifier: “Now I know I haven’t been the best Jew,” Homer tells a rabbi from whom he is trying to borrow money in an episode of “The Simpsons,” “but I have rented ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and I intend to watch it.”

How could a commercial entertainment do all this? How does a work of popular culture glow with a radiant afterlife, illuminating for different audiences the pressing issues of their times? The answer lies in large part in where “Fiddler” came from and how it was made.”

It never entered our minds that it was Jewish,” Mr. Harnick recalled. “We all felt the same way about the stories, that they were just very beautiful and we couldn’t wait to work on them.”

Or as Stein liked to put it, “These were stories about characters who just happened to be Jewish.” Robbins kept searching for what he called a special “ordinary” quality for his cast — he didn’t want actors who looked too polished or flashy to be convincing as poor Jews. Yet he and his collaborators also didn’t want actors who, in their view, overplayed some put-on idea of Jewishness. They rejected stereotypical portrayals that showed vestiges of the American vaudeville “stage Jew” with Old Country accents, flailing hands or singsong intonations; they quickly eliminated anyone who seemed to have arrived at the audition hall directly from Second Avenue, which was largely the erstwhile home of the Yiddish theater district, or from the borscht belt. (They did, however, arrange with the Hebrew Actors’ Union — the 65-year-old association of Yiddish performers — to audition some of its members.) Robbins’s notes on the show repeatedly sound his contempt for representations of Jews as “lovable schnooks,” and his collaborators shared his concerns.

Whoever played Tevye first would have to combine the general realness Robbins insisted on with the magnetism and virtuosity — the ineffable “it” — that make a Broadway star. The actor would have to live in two places simultaneously onstage: inside the world of the play as a convincing Pale of Settlement patriarch and on the outside of the dramatic action as a crowd-pleasing performer of magnificent feats. And he would have to be equally and constantly lovable in both realms: intimate with audience members and beyond their ken, winning their empathy and their awe.

Zero Mostel and Robbins had briefly worked together, and the once-blacklisted actor and the director who had named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee did not like each other. So Robbins’s eagerness to cast Mostel, and Mostel’s zeal for the part, spoke to both men’s prevailing sense of artistry — they recognized and respected each other’s talents. Even more, the draw of the Sholom Aleichem material trumped their mutual distrust and distaste.

Two more opposite temperaments are tough to imagine. Mostel was confident and free as an actor could be, Robbins a sack of insecurity as a director. Their very bodies exemplified the contrast: an uncontainable, jiggling mass on the one hand, an utterly flab-free, erect carriage on the other.

For both of these Jewish artists, albeit in vastly different ways, this project was personal. Mostel would have seemed the perfect choice to Robbins for a deeper reason, too: He represented an image of Jewishness that Robbins had done all he could do to distance himself from but that exerted a pull on him all the same. He described it in one of his journals as a “crude, vulgar, but healthy and satisfied” way of being, a way of saying, “I don’t care what they think.”

Like Robbins, Mostel fought an inner war over Jewish identity, but the enemy fire came from a different place. Mostel never sought to evade his Jewishness — on the contrary — but he rebelled against, and came deeply to resent, the Orthodox practice his parents maintained and expected their eight children to carry forward. The family lived in the concentrated community of some 230,000 Jews in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1915, when Mostel was born (his given name was Samuel), and later moved to the Lower East Side. Yiddish was spoken at home and in the neighborhood. Mostel would have made an excellent rabbi, his father thought. Mostel understood that choosing to pursue painting and performance meant leaving his family’s world behind.

The part offered a kind of vindication, a reconciling of Mostel’s past with his present, a means of honoring the background he had to reject in a form that, in itself, expressed, even celebrated, that rejection: playing Tevye on Broadway, he could have his kreplach and eat it too.

Robbins, in contrast, had run from a specter of weakness that rose from his ignorance and fear and from his desire for acceptance. Mostel knew what he had given up and could represent it with affection as a trace of the past; Robbins was joyously discovering a cultural wealth that he’d been denied and that the show could display as a gleaming treasure — but crucially, one from long ago and far away.

In different fashions, both men were internally making the show’s primary contradictory gesture: embracing Jewish practice at arm’s length. Through “Fiddler,” Mostel and Robbins — and millions of spectators in the decades to come — could cherish, honor and admire a legacy in the safely secular, make-believe space of a theater.

When Mostel blasted into rehearsals after the second week, he started ridiculing Robbins right away. “A couple of weddings in Williamsburg and that putz thinks he understands Orthodox Jews!” he’d snort with a roll of the eyes that seemed to trace the full circumference of the globe. Day after day he found a way to entertain his fellow cast members at Robbins’s expense. And most of the company — especially the younger actors — cheered him on with their laughter.

When they argued at all, it was over substance, and often over Jewish substance. “What are you doing?” Robbins demanded at one rehearsal as Mostel touched the doorjamb of Tevye’s house and then brushed his fingers over his lips.

Mostel offered the obvious answer: “I’m kissing the mezuza.”

Robbins responded bluntly, “Don’t do it again.”

But Mostel insisted that Tevye, like the Orthodox Jews with whom the actor had grown up, would never neglect to make the customary gesture of devotion that acknowledges the case of sacred parchment affixed to doorways of Jewish homes.

Robbins bristled. Mostel held firm and kissed the mezuza again. Without raising his voice — in fact, the more emphatic he became, the more firmly and calmly he spoke — Robbins demanded that Mostel stop. The actor relented. And then, when he walked through Tevye’s doorway once more, he crossed himself. He’d made — and won — his point. The mezuza kissing stayed in.

No one was surprised that “Fiddler” swept the Tony Awards, winning as best musical as well as for book, score, direction, choreography, costumes, production and performances by Mostel and Maria Karnilova (as his wife, Golde). Mostel famously accepted his statue noting that, since no one else from the show who had been on the podium that night had bothered to thank him, he would thank himself. Then he carried on a bit in Yiddish.

This article is adapted from Alisa Solomon’s “Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ ” (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company), set for release on Tuesday.

Y a h r z e i t L i s t I n t h e B o n d o f L i f e

November 2013

Contact Irwin Lewis, Ritual Chairman

November 1 Ida Hertz, beloved grandmother of Herman Ytkin November 1 Pat Cirkus, beloved sister of Gail Weisberger November 2 Allen Kutner, beloved son of Miriam Cassel November 2 Joseph Koplin, beloved father of Ruth Reiter November 4 Rose Weiss, beloved aunt of Helaine Sigal November 5 Estelle Baily Lehman, beloved mother of Ginger Schocker November 5 Irving Asteak, beloved father of Gary Asteak November 7 Sally Silberman, beloved mother of Robert Silberman November 7 Morris Freedberg, beloved father of Robert Freedberg November 8 Joseph Brau, beloved husband of Sally Brau November 13 Beatrice Mayer, beloved mother of Loretta Brickman November 13 Bessie Abo, beloved mother of Marc Abo November 13 John Schiavone, beloved brother of Carol Rabinowitz November 14 Jacob Altman, beloved father of Arthur Altman November 15 Frederick Zibulewsky, beloved husband of Lydia Zibulewsky November 16 Mollie Abeshaus, beloved aunt of Alan Abeshaus November 19 Abe Greenberg, beloved father of Sandy Weiner November 19 Marion Esther Gross, beloved sister of Faye Goldberg November 19 Jules Zarchin, beloved father of Gail Weisberger November 19 Arthur Kalb, beloved father of Sally Neadle November 21 Freida Cohen, beloved mother of Danny Cohen and

Arnie Cohen November 21 Abner William Hochhauser, beloved father of

Leslie Hochhauser November 22 Shirley Ytkin, beloved sister of Doris Lifland and beloved

cousin of Herman Ytkin November 22 Elmer Lifland, beloved husband of Doris Lifland November 22 Harry Weitzman, beloved father of Lydia Zibulewsky November 23 Robert Wise, beloved father of Margaret Kaplan November 24 Harold Abraham, beloved father of Alan Abraham and

Joan Crescenzi November 25 Morry Mermelstein, beloved father of Helaine Sigal November 25 Joseph Falk, beloved father of Howard Falk November 26 Frank Aufrecht, beloved father of Nancy Cohen November 26 Ida Altman, beloved mother of Arthur Altman November 29 Pearl Krasner, beloved stepmother of Shirley Falk November 30 Agnes Emma Zibulewsky, beloved mother-in-law of

Lydia Zibulewsky

BNAI ABRAHAM SYNAGOGUE General operating expenses

Please consider a donation to Bnai Abraham Synagogue to cover “General Operating Expenses”. Your donations support our Congregation and strengthen our Jewish community here in Easton.

BEATRICE & LEON FRIEDMAN FUND 1.  Support organizations that benefit minor children whose parents are unable to

provide for their health, maintenance, support and education 2.  Needy, elderly 3.  Shelter for the homeless

BUILDING FUND Extraordinary maintenance and repair of the buildings and property of the synagogue and parsonage

SISTERHOOD CAMP RAMAH SCHOLARSHIP FUND

GENERAL ENDOWMENT FUND Interest only used to subsidize Bnai Abraham’s operating expenses

GOLDMAN/MERBAUM TORAH FUND

HERB SNYDER GARDEN FUND

JESSE & TAYLOR COOPER FUND

DR. JOEL LEWIS SCHOLARSHIP FUND Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutoring stipends

JULIUS COHEN MEMORIAL FUND 1.  Religious School Scholarships 2.  Assisting needy congregational youth in Jewish-oriented education,

programming and activities (e.g. Yeshiva or Jewish Day School, trips, USY)

RABBI’S DISCRETIONARY FUND

ROBERT KUTNER LIBRARY FUND

SHEILA GOLDBERG FUND To pay High Holiday fees for anyone who cannot afford to attend

SILVERMAN RELIGIOUS SCHOOL FUND Religious School Scholarships, Shofars

SISTERHOOD BUILDING FUND

SUE SEIGEL SHABBAT FUND 1.  Shabbat programming, including kiddush lunches 2.  Bagels and Books

SY JACOWITZ TOT SHABBAT FUND Boker Tov Scholarships

THEATER FUND Supports a wide variety of synagogue projects and functions

Bnai Abraham Synagogue Alan and Marsha Abraham in honor of the birth of Miri Hannah Stein. Rose Bayer – Thank you for welcoming the students of Lafayette to your congregation for the High Holidays. Liz Cartine – Mazel Tov to Rabbi Stein and Dena on the birth of their daughter, Miri Stein. Robert and Ronnie Freedberg in memory of Bill Smolow. Paul and Elaine Goldenberg – Thank you for your warm welcoming family atmosphere when we visited for the High Holidays. David and Lisa Golod in memory of Nana Susie Aufrecht. Boris and Ellen Lifschutz in honor of the birth of Miri Hannah Stein. Boris and Ellen Lifschutz in memory of Susie Aufrecht. Boris and Ellen Lifschutz sending get well wishes to Phoebe Altman. Lisa and Moshe Markowitz – Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Dena Stein on the birth of Miri Stein.

Building Fund Max and Shirley Kimball Hausen in memory of Susie Aufrecht.

Herb Snyder Garden Fund Jan Snyder in memory of Bill Smolow. Jan Snyder and Bill Bergstein in memory of Susie Aufrecht.

Goldman/Merbaum Torah Fund Alan and Lilianne Merbaum in memory of Susie Aufrecht.

Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund Loretta and Stephen Brickman in honor of the baby naming of Miri Hannah Stein. Shirley and Julius Wachtel in honor of Anne Zuckerman.

Yahrzeit Phoebe Altman in memory of her father, Eliyahu Meirowitz. Linda Bloch in memory of her mother, Annette Geller. Shirley Falk in memory of her mother, Rose Krasner. Sidney Kaplan in memory of his father, Morris Kaplan. Doris Lifland in memory of her mother-in-law, Rose Lifland. Herbert Litvin in memory of his wife, Sharon Litvin. David Phillips in memory of his wife Vivian Phillips. Ruth Reiter in memory of her brother, Irving Koplin. Norman Seidel in memory of his father, Louis Seide,l and his brother, Irvin Seidel. Robert Weiner in memory of his mother, Claire Weiner.

Todah Rabah

Jay Neadle will be sponsoring a Kiddush on December 14th in honor of his parents, Sally and Dexter Neadle’s anniversary.

On behalf of the Cemetery Committee we would like to thank all who called Herman Ytkin to inform him that a tree was down in the Forks Cemetery.

Kiddush is a perfect way to celebrate a special birthday or anniversary, and it allows you the opportunity to celebrate with our community. To sponsor a Kiddush for $36, please contact the synagogue office.

Do you have a celebration we should know about? Email office@bnaiabraham.org

R e f u a h S h ’ l e m a (A Full and Complete Healing) To all who were sick or hospitalized, we wish a return to good health.

I n m e m o r i a m May God in His Kindness Grant Comfort and Solace to the Mourners

Phoebe Altman Deborah bas Briendel

Susan Jones Joe Kaplan Jack Stein

T h e R i t u a l C o r n e r For November Submitted by Irwin Lewis

THE SHEMA

We are commanded to say the Shema at least three times a day during the daily prayers. No recitation conveys comfort and trust more than the Shema that is said before bed.

Scholars believe that the bedtime Shema was developed as a protection against the dangers of the night. People felt comforted by recalling the One God and God's loving commandments for us. Many parents by tradition say these prayers with their children before bed.

Source: Jewish Exponent, Rabbi Danielle Stillman

The Ritual Challenge

Best answer wins free deluxe Men's Club Brunch.

Six Important Places That Begin with the Letter G. Can you name them?.

Aldous Huxley Novel Eyeless In G--- where Samson was blinded. Poe's narrator in THE RAVEN was skeptical, wondering: "Is there balm in G- - - - -?" This reference was to Jeremiah's search for a cure for the decline of the Hebrew nation to ask his famous rhetorical question "Is there no balm in G- - - - - ? "

The valley outside Jerusalem where, during various periods, the Jews slipped into pagan rites. Later became synonymous with Hell, as in Rudyard Kipling's verse: "Down to G - - - - - - or up to the throne/ He travels fastest who travels alone."

More than one place but one G - - - - - was fertile region in northeast part of the Nile delta where Joseph settled his brothers and father. Joshua and his army occupied another near the Negev from which we got the expression land o’ G - - - - -.

The olive garden on the western slope of the Mount of Olives where Jesus was arrested G- - - - - - - - -G - -G- - - - or, in Latin, Calvary, the word for skull just outside the walls of Jerusalem traditionally within the Church of The Holy Sepulchre where the Cross was supposed to be set.

Sisterhood News

It’s a New Year -- Be Part of Sisterhood

Join an extraordinary group of women to support the synagogue and have fun while doing it.

It’s the New Year – Send in your annual dues -- just $20

(Make check payable to Bnai Abraham Sisterhood and send to the office.)

Sisterhood members will be calling all the women in our congregation with the goal of making every

member feel part of our Jewish community.

Mitzvah Committee Let’s reach out to our members in times of

consolation or illness, celebrate happy events, and welcome new members. Let’s especially reach

out to Jewish residents (in and out of our congregation) at local facilities.

We can make a difference.

Contact Elaine Morrow with any questions or to get involved.

Call 484-515-3475 or email emorrow2542@gmail.com

S i s t e r h o o d N e w s

General announcements

ADULT EDUCATION

Our successful Torah Study group will continue to meet Thursday mornings, 10:15 to 11:15. No prior experience is necessary. We are charging a low materials fee of $10 per semester to defray the cost of copying and coffee.

COFFEE WITH RABBI STEIN

Enjoy coffee with the Rabbi at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesdays at Wegmans on Rt. 248. Look for the Martin Guitar on the back right corner of the room.

MEN'S CLUB TOPICS FOR 2013

WE ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SPEAKERS! TOPIC NEED NOT BE JEWISH-RELATED AND CAN BE VERY INFORMAL.

PROFESSIONSALS ARE WELCOME WITH EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION. PLEASE NO SOLICITATIONS.

AL’S CLEANERS - FUNDRAISER FOR BAS!

Bnai Abraham has been signed up at Al’s Cleaners, 1132 Northampton Street, to enable the synagogue to collect 10% of all sales of dry cleaning and laundry services that our congregants spend there. It’s easy. Just mention that you are a member of Bnai Abraham Synagogue, and they will credit the synagogue and send the proceeds periodically. Al’s is only about seven blocks from the synagogue, has very convenient hours, and does excellent work.

MOVING

Please notify the Bnai Abraham Synagogue office of any address changes to enable us to avoid charges for returned and undeliverable mail and to insure that you receive all mail being sent to you from the synagogue.

CAMPAIGN FOR NEW MEMBERS - HELP WANTED!

We are asking every member of our congregation to help us locate prospective new members. They may be your neighbors, friends, vet, or whoever. Please relay the name and any pertinent information to the Membership Chair, Marna Simon, or to Elaine Morrow. You may also call and give the information to the synagogue office staff.

General announcements continued…

SHOPPING AT AMAZON…A FUNDRAISER FOR BNAI ABRAHAM!

Click on the Amazon search link on the “Donations” page on the BAS website, and for any purchases made during your visit on Amazon.com, Amazon will contribute 4% to 15% of the purchase price to Bnai Abraham!

How it works:

Navigate to the BAS Donations webpage at http://www.bnaiabraham.org/donations.html and type any item keyword in the Amazon search box, and you will be transferred to Amazon.com. (You must use this link or purchases will not be traced to BAS). If you place items in your shopping cart and complete a purchase during your visit, Amazon will pay us a portion of the purchase price (not including shipping), that portion to range from 4% to 15% depending on the item category.

Rates for categories are posted on our website.

We encourage all of our members to shop on Amazon.com – but remember to only access Amazon.com through the BAS link at the below url or we will not get the purchase credit:

http://www.bnaiabraham.org/donations.html

Thank you for your continued support of BAS and HAPPY SHOPPING!

General announcements continued…

General announcements continued…

Jewish Family Services of the Lehigh Valley

F o o d P a n t r y help keep our kosher food pantry stocked…

Every time you attend a meeting for a Jewish 0rganization, please bring a non-perishable kosher item with you. Call for your collection box and pick up. Call Becky Goldenberg at 610-892-1250 or Email: goldenberg@aol.com or Jewish Family Services of The Lehigh Valley at 610-821-8722.

Jewish Family Services of the Lehigh Valley will provide a collection box and will pick up the items.

T r e e o f L i f e

Permanently commemorate your simcha or celebrate a person!

The “Tree of Life” sculpture is on display in the BAS Main lobby known as Founders Hall.

It is used to honor and remember special events such as: Bar/Bat Mitzvahs

Birthdays

Anniversaries

Memorials

Engagements

Namings

Weddings

and any other special milestone or celebration!

Leaf: $140 Apple: $800

Or memorialize your loved one:

Stone at base of tree: $1,100

Dedicate a memorial plaque to be located on the

walls of the Sanctuary: $300

To honor your friends on the Walk of Life: $350

Lothar Gumberich, Chairman: 610-253-5263 BAS office: 610-258-5343

Our Advertisers… we thank you for your patronage

Denise Pollack, M.Ed. National Certified Counselor

Licensed Professional Counselor Adolescent and Adult Counseling

2925 William Penn Highway, Suite 306

Easton, PA 18045 610-392-3862

www.denisepollackcounseling.com

KAPLAN’S ENTERPRISES, INC.

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Our Advertisers… we thank you for your patronage

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610-258-7288

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Contact the Office 610 258-5343

Barbara DeStefano

“Our Quality is Etched In Stone”

Easton Monument Studio Personalized Memorials & Distinctive Stone Art

203 North 7th Street, Easton, PA 18042

610-905-8523