Shabbat Hachodesh

Thanks to Rabbi Les Scharnberg for leading our service last Friday and Torah study Saturday.

This Friday night is Shabbat Hachodesh, the Sabbath when we  announce the coming month of Nisan, the month containing Passover. We will celebrate shabbat this Friday at 7 P.M. at the temple, 956 J Street in Crescent City.

Torah study continues from 4:30 to 6:30 this Saturday at the temple. The parsha is Tazria, Leviticus 12:1- 13:59. This section contains laws about ritual defilement, and has some interesting things to say about women after the birth of a child. We didn't get to the haftarah last week, but the special prophetic reading this week is Ezekiel 45:16-25 about the sacrifices made at this time of the year, including at Passover.

Speaking of Passover, Jill and Vivian are in the process of calling people about our seder at the Coast Guard Auxiliary Hall in Crescent City Harbor. We will meet on Saturday, April 23, the sixth night of Passover, at 5:30 for our annual community seder. The seder ritual, led by Rabbi Les Scharnberg, will begin promptly at 6. Everyone is invited. We charge $5 per person to defray the cost and it is potluck.  If you do not receive a call in the next few days, please send a note to the temple at delnortebethshalom@gmail.com and someone will  call you.

Our local Safeway has Passover items on sale this week. If you get this message today ( Wednesday), it might be a good time to buy some items, especially those made in Israel, as there is a group running a "Boycott Israel" campaign today. The Jewish community has a counter: a "Buy Israel" day today.

We received information about  a B'nai B'rith Summer Camp in Oregon. Let me know if you know of kids or teens who might be interested in attending this camp. I'll bring the literature to temple.

Barry Wendell
President
Beth Shalom

Rabbi Les This Weekend

We will again celebrate shabbat at the temple, 956 J Street in Crescent City, at 7 P.M. Friday. Our rabbi, Les Scharnberg, will be leading the service.

Torah study continues Saturday afternoon at 4:30. The change to the afternoon has improved our attendance, so we will continue that for now. The parsha this week is Shemini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47. This section includes the dietary laws that we do or do not follow. It will be interesting to see what the text says. Rabbi Scharnberg will guide us through this discussion. In the past we have not discussed the haftarah, the prophetic reading. Some people have expressed an interest in exploring these readings. This week's is for Shabbat Parah, the special name of this shabbat. It is Ezekiel 36:22-36.

Passover is coming. It begins April 18 in the evening. Temple Beth Shalom's annual community seder will be Saturday night, April 23, at the Coast Guard Auxiliary Hall in Crescent City Harbor. If your phone is listed with the temple, expect a call soon asking what you will bring for this pot luck event. If you are not listed, send a note to delnortebethshalom@gmail.com with your phone number.

I hope everyone's week is going well.

Barry Wendell
President
Beth Shalom

Purim!

Purim, the most joyous Jewish holiday, is this Saturday night and Sunday. We will celebrate Purim early, at our regular Friday night service, 7 PM at the temple, 956 J Street in Crescent City. Two congregants have promised to bring hamantaschen, the pastry treats associated with Purim. Some may even be gluten-free! We'll also sing Purim songs. Costumes are encouraged!

We will pray "Gomel," the prayer for miraculous deliverance, in addition to a prayer for those affected by the tsunami here and in Japan.

Saturday afternoon we continue our Torah study from 4:30 to 6:30 P.M. We will study the parsha, Tsav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36. We will also discuss Megillat Esther, the special scroll for Purim. Esther is in a complete Bible, not in a Chumash, which contains the first five books of the Bible.

Beth Shalom's Passover  seder is now set for Saturday night, April 23rd at the Coast Guard Auxiliary Hall in Crescent City Harbor. We will have a potluck dinner and seder led by Rabbi Les Scharnberg. Passover begins Monday night April 18 at sundown, and runs for seven or eight days, depending on your observance. Orthodox and Conservative Jews outside Israel observe eight days; Reform Jews observe seven. We will call everyone in the next few weeks and help each family decide what to bring.

I hope to see you this weekend.

Barry Wendell
President
Beth Shalom

Tsunami

It appears that one can come south on US 101 to Ninth Street, turn right and right again at J street to get to the temple. I'm not sure that people living south of town (Bertsch Tract and Elk Valley) will be able to get to temple easily. We will go ahead with services tonight at 7. Maybe the roads will be open by then.

Everything should be fine by 4:30 tomorrow for Torah study. I pray that everyone is safe. We will also pray for the people in Japan and here on our coast.

Barry Wendell

Leviticus!

Thanks to Jill Munger for leading services last Friday night on short notice.


We will worship again this Friday night at 7 at the temple, 956 J Street in Crescent City.

Torah study continues Saturday from 4:30-6:30 P.M. The time change resulted in a 50% increase in attendance from the week before. Please join us as we begin the study of Leviticus. The parshah is Vayikra, the Hebrew name for Leviticus. We will study from Chapter 1, verse 1 to Chapter 5, verse 26.

Plans are underway for a gathering for Purim next weekend. This is a particularly joyous holiday for the Jewish people. Check out next week's bulletin.

The annual Passover seder is also coming up next month. We will have a  pot luck dinner at the Coast Guard Auxiliary in Crescent City Harbor, Saturday night April 23. Stay tuned for further announcements.

Be Happy! It's Adar II !

Barry Wendell
President
Beth Shalom

Clarification

Our Torah study will be at the temple Saturday, from 4:30-6:30. I didn't make that clear in my earlier post. Sorry for the confusion.
Barry Wendell

This Week at Beth Shalom

Thanks to Rabbi Les Scharnberg for leading services and Torah study last week.

Services continue this Friday at  the temple, 956 J Street in Crescent City, at 7 P.M. Please join us.

We are changing Torah study, beginning this week, to 4:30-6:30 P.M. This will accommodate those who work at Pelican Bay Prison early in the day. Perhaps we will end with havdalah and go out for a meal after study. Our parsha this week is Pekude, the last in Exodus. It begins with Chapter 38, verse 21, and ends at chapter 40, verse 38. The tabernacle is finally completed and set up.

If you are reading this  on the blog and wish to be on our e-mail list, please contact me. Four e-mail addresses rejected a few weeks ago. I only know one of those people, and I was able to verify with her that she had changed her e-mail address. There's a place on the blog to be added to the e-mail list, or you can send a note to delnortebethshalom@gmail.com.

Passover is coming April 18. Beth Shalom's famous seder will be held on Saturday night, April 23. Watch here for details. If you would like to help, contact me. We need someone to supervise the pot luck, and people to set up and clean up.

Finally, the e-mail will be sent as blind copies beginning this week to protect the privacy of those on our list.

Have a great week.I hope to see everyone this weekend.

Barry Wendell
President
Beth Shalom