O'Hanukkah, O'Hanukkah...

Happy Hanukkah!

I hope that you're having a wonderful celebration, thus far! I have surely enjoyed all of the Hanukkah celebrations we've been having at SRT. The one word I'd have to pick to describe Hanukkah so far this year would have to be...LATKES! We started the holiday off with a "latke contest" on Friday night following services, then we enjoyed latkes at Religious School on Sunday morning, had more latkes on Sunday evening at the potluck dinner and then, I made latkes with the Confirmation class on Monday evening. I don't know if I'm biased or if it was the "love" that the students put into the potato pancakes, but these latkes were AMAZING! I think I'll take a break from latkes....

I hope your Hanukkah is full of light and good food (and not too much grease...but just enough)!

Chag Sameach-Happy Hanukkah!

Shabbat Shalom!

So, it is just about Shabbat and I'm getting ready for a wonderful evening at Temple and a great "Lunch and Learn" tomorrow. Ruben has spent all day cooking and tomorrow's lunch should be great! He made cholent, hummus, and two types of kugel!

I'm posing a question... "What is one thing you can do to make Shabbat a little more special in your life?"

I look foward to hearing your thoughts...

Shabbat Shalom!

Back from the Biennial

Last week I had an amazing opportunity to celebrate my Judaism with over 3000 other Reform Jews from around North America and beyond. I attended the Union for Reform Judaism's 70th Biennial in Toronto, Canada. For me, it was my 5th Biennial-- having gone to one as a teenager and then going to the last 3 while in Rabbinical School. It was a truly awesome time of getting together with old friends and making new ones. I learned new melodies of songs and came back to SRT with some great program ideas.

I'll be speaking about the Biennial at services on Friday, November 20th...so please come to hear more about the conference and even share in a treat I brought back from Canada!

In the meantime, you can check out www.urj.org for more info on the Biennial.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting a few pics too...

Shabbat Shalom!

A little more from JJ Keki

We'll continue to post more pictures from JJ's visit. Here's a quick clip of JJ's performance with the Religious School.

Shalom Everybody...Shalom to Africa, Shalom to America...Shalom-Shalom!!!

Jews in Uganda and Bay Shore...

On Sunday night, October 25th we were blessed to welcome JJ Keki to SRT. JJ is a leader of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda. His program was incredibly fascinating and wonderfully informative. All who were there truly enjoyed themselves as JJ performed and shared his life story with us. For more information on the Jews of Uganda, go to http://www.kulanu.org/

Our committee who put the event together was truly AMAZING! We all worked so hard and it definitely paid off as the synagogue was full with people ready to learn about our brothers and sisters in Uganda!

JJ is a truly remarkable man. He's a leader of the community, a chazzan, a father, a farmer and now we can say he's a friend of SRT! Thank you to all who came out and all who supported our program! What a wonderful night!

Shake, Shake, Shake

Shake, Shake, Shake...Shake, Shake, Shake...Shake your lulav...Shake your lulav! Yes, it is that wonderful time of year- the holiday of Sukkot! We've eaten our apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah and we atoned for our sins on Yom Kippur. Now we are ready to shake our lulav and smell our etrog as we dwell inside our Sukkah.



We welcomed in Sukkot this past Friday evening with a wonderful Shabbat dinner sponsored by Sisterhood. Services were great, if I do say so myself. We then all had an opportunity to "dwell in the sukkah" during the oneg when we also took turns shaking the lulav!



We continued our Sukkot celebrations today with Religious School. The Parent Council provided all the students with the materials and directions to make their own edible sukkahs...believe me when I tell you they looked both fabulous and delicious! All of our students also took turns fulfilling the Sukkot Mitzvot of eating in the sukkah and shaking the lulav.



Our Sukkot Celebrations will continue tomorrow during Confirmation class and again on Tuesday when all of our Hebrew School students will enjoy "Pizza in the Hut." If you'd like to join us on Tuesday evening for dinner, please let me or the office know so we make sure to have enough pizza!



Mo'adim L'simcha! Chag Sameach! Happy Sukkot...and Happy Shaking!



Here's a sample of the fun we had as videographed by Allyson Ellner:

The New Year is coming, the New Year is coming...

Shalom, Shalom!

Bruchim Haba'im- welcome to our new blog and welcome to a new year!

Let me just take this time to wish you all a "L'shanah Tovah u'Mitukah!" May we all be blessed with a A Happy and Healthy New Year!

May this year be filled with good health and happiness!
May 5770 be a year with a great deal of laughter and good times!
May we find time this year to learn and to teach,
And may we all be blessed with love!