tbhrich

About tbhrich

Posts by :

Religious School Update – June 2, 2023

June 2, 2023 by •

Hello Everyone!

We hope y’all had a wonderful long weekend!  As we enter June, there will be two more sessions of Religious School for the year.  We will have our regular classes this Sunday, June 4, at the regular time of 9:30 a.m.  The following week, on June 11, we will have our annual Mensch Awards and ice cream treats.  We encourage all families to contribute an ice cream treat for the festivities, which will provide a variety of sweet send offs for the kids.  Thanks everyone and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Best,

David

Religious School Update – May 21, 2023

May 26, 2023 by •

Hello Everyone,

I can’t believe I am saying this but Religious School is nearing its completion for the year.  We will have the week off this coming Sunday, May 28, in celebration of Memorial Day.  We will then have two more sessions, one on June 4 and the final one on June 11.  For the last class, we will have our traditional Mensch awards along with special treats.  More details to come.

  And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean led us in our Tefillah Service before all the kids adjourned to the kitchen for a special baking activity.  Teacher Jenny graciously provided her superb cooking skills to teach the kids how to make blintzes for Shavuot.  They were absolutely delicious!  And while they were baking, in celebration of Lag B’Omer, all the kids got to practice their archery skills with a toy bow and arrow set.  By the end of the hour, some of the kids were scoring bulls eyes with remarkable accuracy.  Afterwards, we all enjoyed blintzes along with a special cheesecake.

    For the last part of class, the younger kids finished their Lag B’Omer art projects while the older kids met in my classroom to learn about the Ten Commandments.  I had them read the text from Exodus and compared it to the text from Deuteronomy.  They found out there are subtle differences in the two different versions in the Fourth Fifth and Tenth Commandments, reflecting how the commandments changed between the wandering in the wilderness and the creation of the Jewish kingdom.  The Torah rarely fails to provide great insights when we look for them!

    And that about covers it for now.  Everyone have a wonderful long weekend and we will see y’all on June 4.

Best,

David 

Notes from the Board – May 17, 2023

May 21, 2023 by •

  • Annual Membership Meeting will be Sunday, June 11 at 1:00 PM. Budget approved and Board Nominations presented for Membership Meeting.
  •  Driveway will be repaired on May 30, and parking lot will be resurfaced and restriped on June 20.
  •  Cantor Marney Margules’s concert was wonderful.
  • We will be participating in the Oakland A’s Jewish Heritage Night on Tuesday, June 27; the El Cerrito Fourth of July event; and the Solano Stroll.
  • Various methods are being used to discourage flies.

Religious School Update April 28, 2023

April 28, 2023 by •

Shalom Everyone!

We had an amazing time last Sunday at Urban Adamah! Thank you to all the families for their flexibility and making this remarkable field trip such an experience.  The kids all got to play with newborn goats, feed and care for chickens, help make butter from goat’s milk, and made corn tortillas from scratch.  They really enjoyed themselves and expressed a desire to return for another trip next year.  All in all, a very successful field trip.

Our regular Religious School will resume this Sunday, April 30, at our regular time at 9:30 a.m. for Tefillah service.  Our main theme will be Yom Haatzmaut, celebrating Israeli Independence Day.  We’ll see everyone there!

Best,

David

Notes from the Board – April 19, 2023

April 21, 2023 by •

  • Welcome new Religious School students Scarlett and Vivian.
  • Passover Seder went well. Thanks to all who volunteered.
  • We are participating in the City of Richmond yard sale, Saturday, May 13. Each seller is responsible for their own items.
  • Fencing has been installed to protect the newly planted fruit trees from animals.
  • Richmond Standard has published articles about the Seder and Cantor Marney’s concert.
  • GRIP is looking for a bilingual (Spanish) caseworker.

Religious School Update – April 21, 2023

April 21, 2023 by •

And now for the recap.  Thankfully, we were all able to meet for our regular Tefillah with Rabbi Dean leading us as usual.  Each class then held classes on the topic of Yom Hashoa.  In the middle grades, Heather’s students learned the story of Anne Frank and the meaning of Yom Hashoa.  They watched a “BrainPop” video on Anne Frank and talked about a few quotes from her diary.  Then they moved on to the different branches of Judaism, which include at least 10 different branches.  It made the students sad to learn that women are often “held back” in many of the branches.

  For the Bnai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour practicing the Torah Service prayers and then started to learn the Haftorah prayers.  For the second hour, we looked at the topic of The Righteous Ones who assisted Jews during the Holocaust.  We read through a hypothetical scenario of having a friend who is in danger of being deported or killed during the Holocaust and whether we would have the courage to help them.  The students came up with different ideas, including sneaking food from their parents, escaping to Switzerland, etc.  We then learned about Raul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped save thousands of Jews in Hungary at the close of the war.

  And that about does it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone at Urban Adamah. It will be a blast!

Best,

David

Tazria-Metzora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33, Parshat Hashavua for Shabbat, April 22, 2023

April 21, 2023 by •

We have lived with the Covid virus for almost four years now.  At the beginning of the pandemic we lived in mortal fear of infection and death. Over time, through growing understanding of the virus and the rapid deployment of vaccines the danger of the virus receded. 

Early on in the pandemic we took extreme measures of isolation. Schools shut down in-person instruction. Those who could, worked from home. At our synagogue, we moved to online services for two years. We all paid a high price for this isolation, with increases in depression, mental illness and suicide. 

As a society we are now moving beyond the pandemic to the endemic phase.Yet, for many people the danger remains, particularly for the old and the immunocompromised. How do we address the dangers of this disease while keeping our society as open as possible. We have experienced the dangers of too close contact and the dangers of isolation. How do we strike the proper balance between the two? How do we stay as connected as we can, while keeping the most vulnerable safe? 

In this week’s Torah portion we see the ancient Israelites struggling with the same issue. The disease then was Tzara’at, a skin disease like leprosy. The Torah tries to strike a balance between isolation of the sick person and integration with the community. The priest determines whether someone is infected and then has the individual isolated outside the camp for seven days. After another inspection if the person is healthy they go through a ritual of purification and are returned to the community. The entire process is about more than health and hygiene. It is also about community, protecting it from disease, and helping the sick person through community support. Over all this, is the sense of ritual and spirituality that infused the entire process with holiness. 

As we seek to find a new balance in our lives, we can learn from this ancient wisdom, to see each individual as holy, to learn to balance the community and the individual’s needs and to recognize that we all need to support and care for each other.

Religious School Update – April 13, 2023

April 13, 2023 by •

Hello Everyone!

And welcome to the first full month of spring!  I always love this time of year because the days are just getting longer and soon warmer weather will be upon us!  I wanted to remind everyone that next week, on April 9, we will have a break for the Passover holiday.  In two weeks, on April 16, we will have our special field trip to Urban Adamah in Berkeley.  On that day, there will be no Tefillah service or classes because we will all meet at Urban Adamah for the scheduled program.  I will send more details next week.  Also, if your family would like to attend the Temple Seder on April 8, please fill out a registration form in the lobby and return it to the main office.

And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney and Rabbi Dean led our Tefillah service to start the day.  Afterwards, the younger kids in Jenny’s class heard Passover stories, watched part of the Prince of Egypt, and, most importantly, made Afikomen covers.  They all turned out beautiful and will make great additions to all of our Seder tables this year.

         In the Bnai Mitzvah class, Heather’s class joined us for the first hour to learn about the Passover Seder.  Once again, I had all the students go over each of the 14 steps and the symbolic importance of each one.  Afterwards, I had the students write out each step, cut them out into separate parts, and rearrange them to make their own Seder ritual.  They each had clever ideas, including putting all the cups of wine together, having the meal earlier, waiting to find the afikomen until the very end, etc.  This year the Bnai Mitzvah kids may yet be running their family seders!  I will be sending out the handiwork of each student to their parents.

  And that about covers it for now.  Have a wonderful break and hopefully we will see y’all at the Temple on Saturday for Seder!

Best,

David

Notes from the Board March 15, 2023

March 15, 2023 by •

Upcoming Events

  • Religious School is planning a field trip to Urban Adamah on Sunday, April 16.
  • Cantor Marney Margules will perform a concert at the Temple on Sunday, May 7 at 2 PM.  
  • GRIP thanks us for hosting their Annual Meeting. In the past year, they have served 80,000 meals and placed 30 families into housing. The Harmony Walk will be Saturday, October 28. Rabbi Dean is now on the GRIP Board.
  • A Nominating Committee is being formed. There are several openings on the Board. Please contact any Board member if interested.
  • The Budget Committee will be working on next year’s budget. Please send any suggestions to Laura Taub.

Notes from the Board – February 16, 2023

February 16, 2023 by •

Notes From the Board

  • GRIP Annual Meeting is at Temple Beth Hillel on Sunday, February 19. All are invited. In co-operation with the County, GRIP successfully operated a warming center during the recent rains.
  • Upcoming events and volunteer opportunities
    • Purim Carnival March 5. Chairs Jane Kemp and Wendy Roth have created a signup sheet.
    • Passover Seder April 8. Contact Anna Stein to help set-up and cook.
    • Jewish Heritage night at the Oakland A’s vs. the Yankees June 22.
    • El Cerrito July 4 celebration and Solano Stroll September 10. Contact Larry Fox to volunteer.
  • Thanks to all who helped replace the sand and wood chips in the playground.
  • Religious School students and families enjoyed planting two trees for Tu B’Shvat. They then sampled 27 different kinds of fruit and later brought home cups planted with seeds. The next week they were among those who learned to bake hamantaschen.
  • Howard Lacheen is our new Building and Grounds Chair. Lauren Schiffman has joined the Marketing Committee.
  • The fallen tree and two other dying trees were removed. The trees are at the end of their life span, and more will need to be removed in the future.
  • Do not leave food in the refrigerator.
1 2 3 4›»