SAVE THE DATES - Centennial Celebrations!

*November 7, 2010.  Lecture entitled "Ties that Bind:  Agudas Achim and a Century of American Judaism".  4pm to 6pm at Bristol County Community College at 11 Field Road in Attleboro, MA.  Dr. Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.  Open to the public. 

*February 2011.  City-wide reading of The Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska.

*March 12, 2011 - Centennial Gala is scheduled @the Attleboro Art Museum.

Erev Sukkot Dinner Exchange
Sept. 22

Want to eat dinner in a local Sukkah?  Have a sukkah that needs guests?  Please let the rabbi know if you would like to be a guest or if you can host (and how many you are or can accommodate) at rabbi@agudasma.org by September 19 and you will be matched for a Sukkot dinner.

Sofer Visit & Program
Sept. 26

“Scribing our Legacy:  The Art of Writing a Torah.”  Join visiting Sofer Rabbi Kevin Hale in a hands on exploration of scribal arts and the making of a Torah.  Practice the art of writing Hebrew letters, learn about our new Torah scroll, and more.  Program runs from 9 am to noon.  Lower School students will participate with their classes; upper school students, teens and all adults are encouraged to attend.  Bring a veggie/dairy potluck to share.

Simchat Torah Service & Potluck
Sept. 29

Celebrate Simhat Torah with Congregation Agudas Achim.  Pizza and potluck dinner begins at 6 pm.  Bring a side dish or drink.  Services and celebration and dancing with the Torah will follow at 7 pm.

“May their memory be a blessing”
Sept. 12

Please join us for our annual New Year Memorial Service at Congregation Agudas Achim’s Hebrew Cemetery, 10:00 am. The Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a traditional time to visit cemeteries.  We will offer memorial prayers and read the synagogue’s golden book (which is also read on Yom Kippur).  Please join us for a moving opportunity to recall all who have come before us in our Jewish community.

Synagogue Sukkah Building
Sept. 19

Help construct the synagogue’s sukkah on Sunday, September 19 at 9:30 am.  Many hands make light work!  Contact Brian Bodemer for all the information you could possibly want:  508-386-1166 or kandbbod@verizon.net.

Nicholas Kerrigan is preparing for his bar mitzvah, which is taking place on Saturday, November 20, 2010.  In preparation for this special day, Nicholas is working with the Attleboro Council of Churches on their Food n' Friends breakfast program for his mitzvah project.  Over the summer, Nicholas helped to stuff bags of food and delivered the bags to more than 60 homes in Attleboro, including 56 children.  After his bar mitzvah, he will make a donation of breakfast items for future deliveries to these families.  Please consider making a donation of the following items:  box of individual packets of oatmeal, box of individual packets of cocoa, powdered milk, fruit cups or apple sauce in individual plastic containers, cereal bars, pancake mix, etc.  Your help is needed and appreciated.  After all, it is a mitzvah!  We will keep a box inside the side door of the synagogue for any collections.

Synagogue Leaders Protest Conversion Bill in Knesset

Earlier this summer, Rabbi Elyse and the members of the Board of Trustees signed a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protesting Knesset legislation that would have changed Israeli law to give greater authority to the orthodox rabbinate over conversion issues. 

The letter was similar to many sent by congregations and rabbinic associations across the country.  This article below is from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism explaining the proposed legislation and the American jewish response.

Background:
Sunday, July 12th, abruptly and with no warning, a committee vote was held on the bill sponsored by Member of the Knesset David Rotem that poses a dangerous threat to the rights of Conservative, Reform, and all non-Orthodox Jews, who comprise the overwhelming majority of world Jewry.

It has evoked the staunch, determined opposition of the vast majority of North American Jewry including the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Movements, the Federation system and individual organizations like the American Jewish Committee.

Leaders at the highest levels of Israeli politics including key Likud leaders such as the Prime Minister, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, Minister Yuli Edelstein, and leaders of the Kadima and Labor parties strongly oppose moving the current legislation, believing it would have an enormously divisive impact on Israel–Diaspora relations at a very challenging time for Israel and the Jewish people.

For 2,000 years, Judaism has treated Jews-by-choice (converts) the same as Jews-by-birth. This treatment is rooted in the Talmudic teaching that "as soon as a convert emerges from the mikvah (ritual bath) she or he is Jewish for all purposes." (Yevamot 47b).

Since its founding 62 years ago, the State of Israel, through the Law of Return, has welcomed Jews from around the world as citizens in the world's only Jewish state.

This legislation would delegitimize all non-Orthodox conversions. It would also preclude conferring citizenship under the Law of Return to Jews who did not qualify for such status on a prior visit (ie. converts).

This bill poses a threat to the unity of the people of Israel and the State of Israel. All religious streams in Judaism must be treated fairly and equally to ensure Israel lives up to its promise as a Jewish and democratic state.

Key Points
1. This is an issue of enormous importance to the character of Israel and to Diaspora Jewry in the US and around the world. No matter cuts more deeply to the heart of the Jewish religion than the issue of who is a Jew. Legislation now poised to move through the Knesset makes alarming changes in the status of Reform and Conservative conversions and affects all those interested in undergoing a conversion within the framework of the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) Movements in Israel and also anyone interested in converting overseas, if they ever visited Israel prior to their conversion.

2. Two additional changes have just been added to the bill:
a. The first would functionally change the Law of Return, disqualifying for the first time in Israel's history, converts by Reform and Conservative Rabbis under many circumstances.
b. The second addition is to fully consolidate all authority in the hands of the increasingly hard-line Chief Rabbinate. In the complex Israeli political system, where religious pluralism is not acknowledged, the non-Orthodox movements have had to rely on the Supreme Court in order to secure their status. This bill will grant, for the first time, legal status to the Chief Rabbinate in the field of conversion, and will adversely affect the Court's ability to effectively enforce the recognition of non-Orthodox conversions, setting back a number of advances the Reform and Conservative Movements made in the past decade.

The proposed law, in an unprecedented attempt, threatens the rights of converts who converted outside of Israel and differentiates for the first time in Jewish history between the rights of Jews by birth and Jews by choice.

3. This move was a breach of good faith by the legislation's proponents. Over the past few months, Diaspora Jewish, Israeli Progressive and Conservative leaders and Israeli political leaders have been in intense discussions seeking to avoid a danger to Israeli and US relations posed by passage of a new conversion bill. MK Rotem and PM Netanyahu had assured us that they would not move ahead without working through their differences with the Diaspora communities. Clearly under pressure from the right wing and the religious parties, that agreement was breached and we were stunned by the abrupt move to push this through.

The text of the letter sent from our congregation is available on our website. To follow developments and find more information, please see www.Haaretz.com or www.jta.org

High Holiday Program

High Holiday Schedule
Rosh Hashanah
Slichot    Sat., Sept. 4 
Erev Rosh Hashanah  Wed., Sept. 8  8:00 pm Service
Rosh Hashanah 1st Day Thurs., Sept. 9  9:30 am Service
Tashlich   Thurs., Sept. 9  4:30 pm    At the Duck Pond
Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day Fri., Sept. 10  9:30 am Service
Cemetery Memorial Service
Memorial Prayers Offered Sun., Sept. 12  10:00 am  At Hebrew Cemetery

Yom Kippur
Kol Nidre   Fri., Sept. 17  6:30 pm Service
Yom Kippur   Sat., Sept. 18  9:30 am Service
        6:30 pm   Mincha/Maariv
        8:00 pm    Break Fast

Sukkot
Sukkot     Wed., Sept. 22  6:00 pm    Dinner Exchange
Sukkot 1st Day   Thurs., Sept. 23 9:00 am   Service
Simhat Torah    Wed. Sept 29    6:00 pm  Service and Potluck
Shemini Atzeret  Thurs., Sept. 30 9:00 am Service with Yizkor

Reminder:  Regular Shabbat Services held each Friday @ 7:30 pm & Saturday @ 10:00 am

Agudas Achim Welcomes Cantor Risa Wallach

Risa Wallach has been retained as the synagogue cantor for the upcoming high holidays.  Risa is a student in the Cantor-Educator Program at Hebrew College in Newton, MA. She moved from Northern California last June where she worked as a medical social worker with the San Francisco Visiting Nurses, and a Cantorial soloist. She has led services at Jewish Renewal, Humanist and unaffiliated communities in the Bay Area; taught Religious School and has officiated or sung at weddings. She studied privately with voice and cantorial teachers before deciding to pursue formal training.

Risa grew up in a musical family, with a father who is a professor of music and a composer. She loves all kinds of music including Hip-Hop, Jazz, R & B, Blues, Classical and Folk and Gospel. In her free time she enjoys meditation, hiking, biking, movies, playing piano, healthy cooking and the pursuit of social justice.

Social Worker Available

Nicole Jellinek, LICSW is available for questions, concerns, referral, short term counseling and consultation to members and friends of Congregation Agudas Achim.  Her services are free and confidential.  Nicole coordinates the Kesher Program, a partnership between Agudas Achim and Jewish Family Service to provide an onsite social worker to assist the congregation.  She can be reached at kesher@agudasma.org or at 401-338-8301.

Kesher Communications
Nicole Jellinek, LICSSW is Congregation Agudas Achim’s part time social worker funded by the Kesher Program, a joint project of the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, the Bernhardt Foundation, Jewish Family Service, and the synagogue.

As the High Holidays approach, so does my 3rd year anniversary of working as Congregation Agudas Achim’s social worker.  Though I have met many of you, there are many more I haven’t…..and there are new families today who may not know about what the Kesher program offers.

First, I am available for short-term or crisis one-on-one counseling or family support—I am here to discuss whatever is on your plate (like balancing children at home and aging parents, coping with chronic illness or the loss of a loved one, understanding a child’s learning differences, figuring out how to manage a major life-change, or parenting teenagers).  Whether I recommend a clinician for more regular counseling, connect a family to community resources, or simply listen and share my perspective and experience, my goal is to support members and their families as they cope with whatever challenge they may face.  We can meet at the synagogue or anywhere else in the community, including congregants’ homes and offices or even a local coffee house.

Second, I organize educational and support programs for the Agudas Achim community.  Right now we are organizing a fall program on parenting teens and understanding adolescent brain development.  We have room to plan and offer a number of other programs—what would be helpful to you?  Ideas that have been floated include talking with adult children about end of life decisions, a support group for caretakers, and a grief group.

Third, I work with Rabbi Elyse to be sure that all members of our congregation have activities at the synagogue and connection to the larger community.  We offer a bimonthly Golden Lunch (coming up on August 11 at 12:30) with a discussion topic and sometimes a guest speaker.  This month Bonnie Ryvicker from the Attleboro Community VNA will come to talk about her agency.  A year ago we hosted a community brunch for our members who were unemployed or underemployed for brainstorming and support.  Rabbi Elyse and I also collaborate to find rides for congregants who aren’t able to get somewhere on their own (including the synagogue!) or to organize volunteers to cook when a congregant is ill.

Fourth, I write this monthly column for the bulletin.  Although the topics vary from month to month they are always intended to address concerns or questions that I have heard from Rabbi Elyse or the synagogue community.  As with programming, I welcome ideas for future articles – sometimes the hardest part of writing a regular column is coming up with a topic that is relevant and meaningful!

Please be in touch if you’d like to speak, if you need some assistance, if you have some programming ideas, if you’d like to help with rides for our members who cannot drive or prepare meals for those who aren’t well.  I can be reached confidentially at 401-338-8301.

On-Going Events