A Note from Rabbi Creditor: Netivot Shalom is featured in Today's "Forward"!

A Note from Rabbi Creditor Netivot Shalom in the News! CNS Website / CNS Blog / CNS Calendar / CNS Preschool / Shorashim Hebrew School Amitim / Midrasha / CNS Adult Education / Make a donation to Netivot Shalom! 11 Sivan, 5772 - May 31, 2012   Dear Chevreh, CNS is featured prominently in the Forward newspaper today! (click here for the story!)   The cover photo for the Forward's article is of the wedding one year ago of CNS members Kate Smallenburg Burch and Margee Churchon Burch, as they accepted their Ketubah, made by CNS member (& Board Secretary!) Meredith Trauner.  Rabbi Kelman and I were both interviewed for the article, sharing our different approaches, as Conservative Rabbis, to same-sex Jewish marriages.    The article was sparked by the momentous decision today of the Conservative/Masorti Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards to adopt templates for same-sex Jewish wedding rituals. As CNS member Nina Meigs put it:    It's a good, good day. Today, after 6 years of deliberation, the Conservative movement in Judaism voted YES for same sex wedding rituals. So grateful to be embedded in a community that goes out there and actually creates the change we hope to see in this country.    We are a community with a passion for Living Torah. As we continue our shared quest for holiness, as we deepen our relationships with each other, and as we strengthen our shul's future, we should take a step back every once in a while and realize the positive difference we make in the world, just by being the incredible community we are.   With Much Love, Rabbi Creditor   --- netivotshalom.org

This Week: Job, Soulfarm, and Amitim for Grown-Ups!

This Week at CNS! (see below for more information) Tonight (Tues): New Adult Class on The Book of Job Wednesday: Soulfarm in Concert!  Friday: Final Minyan Lev Shalem for the Year! Shabbat: Amitim for Grown-Ups Celebration! People, God, and Whirlwinds: Wisdom from the Book of Job with Rabbi Menachem Creditor  Tuesday nights at 7:30pm: May 29; June 5, & 12 7:30pm Tuition: $60 for the series, no one turned away for lack of funds Minyan Lev Shalem! This Friday Night at 6:30! Click here for the melodies! Celebrate a year of Adult Jewish Journeying with Amitim for Grown-Ups this Shabbat Morning! (June 2!)  This Wednesday, May 30, 7:00 PM Congregation Netivot Shalom (1316 University Ave, Berkeley) cosponsored by Urban Adamah, Contra Costa Jewish Day School, NCSY, and Congregation Netivot Shalom!   PURCHASE TICKETS AT THE DOOR OR ONLINE! (CLICK HERE!)  $10/adults, $6/children, students, seniors      Soulfarm is a New York City based Jam-band founded in Israel by Grammy Award winner lead guitarist C Lanzbom and guitarist and lead singer Noah Solomon Chase. Their music is a mix of Jewish/Middle Eastern, rock, bluegrass, and celtic influences (among others). Don't miss this jam!

CNS Chavurot Update

CNS Chavurot Update! You Can Still Join a Chavurah! For those of you who have not signed up to join a chavurah, you are not too late! We will form new chavurot when we receive additional questionnaires.  You can access the chavurah questionnaire by clicking this link! As a reminder, a chavurah is a group of adults, families, couples, and singles who meet regularly to share Jewish life. A chavurah provides a wonderful way to get to know others and to build lasting friendships with fellow Netivot Shalom members in smaller, more intimate groups. If you have any questions about chavurot please direct them to the Community Building Committee via email, community@netivotshalom.org. Thank you very much. B'shalom, Norma Kaufman & Michael Meltzer Community Building Committee Chairs

The 2012 Berkeley Community-Wide Tikkun Leyl Shavuot is this Saturday Night!! (click for schedule and more info)

The 2012 Berkeley Community-Wide Tikkun Leyl Shavuot!!

Date: Saturday, May 26 - 27, 2012Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 am

Location:  Show mapJCC East Bay1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA 94709

Contact: Lauren GreisEmail: tikkun@jcceastbay.org

From Dusk 'Till Dawn, FREE

 

Teaching Schedule & Tikkun Program

Program - Coming Soon!

Download the Tikkun 2012 Schedule

Download the Tikkun 2012 Flyer

A unique community-wide celebration and night of learning, a spiritual journey bringing together Jews with varied perspectives and affiliations. Stay for an hour—or stay until dawn! We will be led in study by teachers from our diverse Bay Area Jewish community. Join us in celebrating Shavuot!

We would love you to join us for family programming in the early evening, featuring sessions for ages 2-12.  We are also offering childcare and a sleeping room (for ages 2 and up) until the end of the Tikkun.  Parents must provide bedding, stay on-site and pre-register online.  

Volunteer Request

We are looking for volunteers for this year's Tikkun.  Whether you have volunteered in the past or are new to the Tikkun, there are so many opportunities, from food prep to greeting to clean up, at all times throughout the night.  For more information or to sign-up, please contact Lauren Greis at tikkun@jcceastbay.org.

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor

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A Special Message from CNS Member Caroline Taymor for Birthright Shabbat!

A Special Message from CNS Member Caroline Taymor for Birthright Shabbat!  [note: This year, Taglit-Birthright Israel celebrates becoming Bat/Bar Mitzvah, marking thirteen years of building relationships for young people with the State of Israel and the Jewish Community here in the United States. CNS member Caroline Taymor's message below is our way of participating in this milestone, along with hundreds of synagogues across the country, celebrating "Birthright Israel Shabbat" this Shabbat.]  My family has a long tradition of Zionism. For four generations, we've been "more Zionist than religious." This family tradition fostered in me a deep love of Israel. I've always felt like Israel is home although I've never been there. And yet the only Israel I really know, the only Israel I feel my family knows, is the heavenly Zion, the dream, the idea. The dream of Israel is important. It's a vision of what could be, what might be, what we can make. The dream is important because it has kept my family Jewish through several generations of nearly secular Judaism. But the dream is not enough.   A week from Monday, Taglit-Birthright is giving me the opportunity to meet the earthly Israel, the flawed Israel, the Israel-that-is. I am so excited.     I expect and hope that the first sight of Israel, the first touch of Israel will stop my heart as much as her symbols do. I expect that the Kotel will be both wonderful and exquisitely painful. I expect that the Shrine of the Book will fill me with the wonder I've been anticipating since I first saw a picture of it in National Geographic as a very little girl.     I hope that this trip will help me in my journey of figuring out how I participate in Judaism. Incorporating Jewish ritual into my life has come easy for me, but I'm still figuring out how I will serve our community. Taglit-Birthright gives me the chance to begin to form a relationship with Israel-as-it-is that I hope will be a life-long connection as I create my identity as a Jew. I think that this trip to Israel in my early 20's will shape my life and my Judaism, and I hope, my contributions to my community. Developing a real relationship with Israel in more formative years is, I think, the true gift of Birthright.   Shabbat Shalom, Caroline Taymor

Our Shul's Sacred Role in the New "Equality Guide"

A Note from Rabbi Creditor Our Sacred Role in the New "Equality Guide" CNS Website / CNS Blog / CNS Calendar / CNS Preschool / Shorashim Hebrew School Amitim / Midrasha / CNS Adult Education / Make a donation to Netivot Shalom! Lag Ba'Omer! 18 Iyyar, 5772 - May 10, 2012   Dear Chevreh, CNS was already an affiliated shul with Keshet (a national grassroots organization that works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews in Jewish life). I had, while still in Boston, helped found a group called Keshet-Rabbis, created to give voice to LGBT friendly Conservative/Masorti rabbis and advocate for change in the Conservative Movement, culminating with (but not completed by) the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards opening the door to GLBT ordination, first at the Ziegler School in Los Angeles, then at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and most recently at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem.  I'm gratified that, along with my friend, Keshet executive director Idit Klein, we've now taken the next step, leveraging the voices of those Conservative rabbis who signed on to the original coalition to strengthen a larger new framework organized by Keshet, called "The Equality Guide". The official announcement can be accessed by clicking on the following link, and I'm especially proud that we, as a community whose work on inclusion far predated my arrival, are part of this powerful Jewish movement to transform the world. http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/2012/05/exciting-news-about-keshet-rabbis.html  Kol Tuv, Rabbi Creditor   --- netivotshalom.org

Soulfarm in Concert - May 30th!

The Masorti Center Proudly Presents: Soulfarm in Concert! cosponsored by Urban Adamah, Contra Costa Jewish Day School, NCSY, and Congregation Netivot Shalom! Wednesday, May 30, 7:00 PM Presented by The Masorti Center Hosted by Congregation Netivot Shalom (1316 University Ave, Berkeley) PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!  $10/adults, $6/children, students, seniors  Soulfarm is a New York City based Jam-band founded in Israel by Grammy Award winner lead guitarist C Lanzbom and guitarist and lead singer Noah Solomon Chase. Their music is a mix of Jewish/Middle Eastern, rock, bluegrass, and celtic influences (among others). Don't miss this jam!