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May 2008
CONTENTS:
One planet, many faiths…
Come and join us to experience a very special sacred space with our faith neighbours in Riverdale/Danforth. There are many ways in which we will be celebrating the Earth together in our respective traditions.
There will be light dramatic skits, singing, a Yiddish reading, clowning, poetry, a sacred dance, and much much more.
Participating faith communities are the
- Daré
- Ruah
- Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
- Toronto Baha'i Community
- Eastminster United
- Danforth Jewish Circle, and
- L’Arche
It’s a wonderful world.
Sunday May 4th 2:30-4:30
Eastminster United Church, Sanctuary
310 Danforth (Danforth & Jackman)
A message from the Board
Your Board has been very busy. At our AGM this year we said goodbye to 3 amazing people (Rosie Beitel, Avrum Jacobson and Mark Zaret). They have been invaluable to the Board and will continue to stay involved within the broader community. We simultaneously welcome 3 new members to the Board (Karen Robbins, Melissa Kluger and Allen Flaming), they have already rolled up their sleeves and are contributing tremendously to the work of the Board. We are planning a Board retreat in the next two months to prioritize our work for the next year.
The AGM drew more engaged members than we have seen for the past few years. It was an opportunity to both hear and be heard; and, as an evolving Board and membership, we will all be challenged to better understand our mutual roles and responsibilities as our community continues to change. The Board heard quite clearly and is committed to increasing transparency, accountability and better communication with the membership. We hope you will let us know how we are doing.
We are most excited about the addition of our new Rabbi and we will get to know each other better as we begin our work with her over this spring and planning for the High Holidays. Lynn Gottlieb brings enthusiasm, energy, music, knowledge of liturgy and a social justice perspective to the DJC, gained through her years of experience as a rabbi.
And finally we wanted to acknowledge the work of a very important person in our community. Kathy Miller is familiar to most of us. She is the key in many ways to what we are able to do. It is funny, we know administration is working when it is invisible and only recognize its worth when it appears not to be. Kathy is the person who makes things happen. She is the one who knows the most about the DJC in terms of its operations; she links to all parts of the congregation; she is the ‘go to’ person for Shabbat services and community events; and, coordinates and trouble shoots on a daily basis. In summary Kathy makes sure it all flows smoothly. So, as we begin our new fiscal year, it is important we honour her and say thanks.
Thank you Kathy….
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
FINAL BOOK CLUB MEETING OF THIS YEAR - this meeting is facilitated by the Book Club members
Wednesday, May 28
Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father - famous for his vigor and charm - battles with the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal. He examines his role as a son faced with unspeakably difficult choices who ultimately becomes aware of the importance of memory and connectedness to one's forebears, even (or especially) in such a wrenching situation.
"In a cunningly straightforward way, Patrimony tells one of the central true stories many Americans share nowadays....Such telling is a marvel of artful wit and vigor...It is the triumphant art of the literal...the gloriously pragmatic, unpredictable genius of Philip Roth's narrative gifts." (The New York Times Book Review)
"A deeply resonant portrait of a father and son...Roth looks past all comfort and condolence to find the truth about himself and his father; about death and the fear of it; and about the absolute vulnerability to which love condemns us all." (Chicago Tribune)
Patrimony won The National Book Critics Circle Award.
Time: 7:30 PM Location: TBA; Rsvp: info@djctoronto.com
In-Home Shabbat
When: Friday, May 23
Time: 7:30 PM
Where: Temi Firsten’s house: 484 Rushton Road [map]
Rsvp: Temi: 416•654•7814. Please bring a nibblie contribution for the after service gathering.
You are invited…
DJC B’NEI MITZVAH CEREMONY
You are invited to the Danforth Jewish Circle's first B'Nei Mitzvah ceremony on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 3:30 pm at Eastminster United Church.
Ceremony followed by Havdallah and Kiddush.
The DJC Jewish Studies program is proud to announce its first B'Nei Mitzvah class. Being honoured:
Abe Brath, Dylan Gold, Ethan Rotenberg, Jacob McCall, Jemma Israelson, Lonya Burton, Rachel Carnat, Samson Weiss, Zachary O'Brien
We would welcome the presence and support of the DJC community at this ceremony. For more information, contact Nadya Burton at nburton@ryerson.ca or 416•538•9949.
Marian Weiss, beloved Aunt of DJC member, Josie Lalonde, passed away recently after a lengthy battle with cancer.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
DJC JS B’NEI OPEN HOUSE
When: Thursday, June 12
Time: 7:00- 9:00 PM
Location: Eastminster United - 310 Danforth Avenue - Auditorium
B’NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM
The Danforth Jewish Circle is offering a one-year program culminating in a group B’Nei Mitzvah ceremony held in the spring (May 2009). This program is open to all girls and boys wanting to participate in a group Bar or Bat Mitzvah. In keeping with the philosophy and approach of the Danforth Jewish Circle’s Jewish Studies program, the B’Nei Mitzvah class will address issues of Jewish identity, tikun olam and social justice, and will foster connection to Jewish peers and community. The B’Nei students will each prepare a D’var Torah (which involves researching and writing a short speech on a topic related to Judaism) and a Torah Portion/Parasha will be shared among the group.
Please join us at the Open House for any questions and to get more information about next year’s program.
Contact: Nadya Burton at nburton@ryerson.ca for more information.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Ilana Waldston
An Evening of Jazz and Laughs (music AND comedy!)
Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
The Dominion On Queen
500 Queen St. East (at Sumach)
www.thedominiononqueen.com
Hope you can be there!
…and remember, the Dominion is a venue, not a grocery store... so you won't be able to buy your milk there!
Ilana Waldston
Burning Passions Theatre and Some Strange Reason Theatreworks Inc. present
BELLA DONNA by David Copelin
A tale of the most reviled and desired woman in Renaissance Italy
Winner of the 2005 New Play Contest at the Fringe of Toronto Festival!
Set in Renaissance Italy, David Copelin's Bella Donna is a funny, sexy and intriguing story about Lucrezia Borgia, the most infamous woman of her time. The play is a two-act dark comedy, set in the early 16th century, which dramatizes a legend about Lucrezia and a mysterious child. Excommunicated by her father's successor as Pope, weary of her husband's infidelities, Lucrezia finds passion with Giovanni, a young soldier she meets while both are in disguise. As war looms, the irony of unintended consequences reveals a long-buried secret that tests everyone in the play. BELLA DONNA dramatizes a world where religious faith takes surprising forms, lies fuel history, and gossip might as well be truth.
Friday, May 16, 2008 to Saturday, June 7, 2008
Mon - Sat at 8PM; Sat Matinee at 2pm.
The Berkeley Street Theatre (Upstairs)
26 Berkeley Street
TICKETS: by phone: 416•368•3110; by email: boxoffice@canstage.com; online: https://bx.canstage.com/Online/calendar.asp
$25 - Tues to Thur Eve Show
$25 - Tues to Thur Eve Show & Sat Mat
$28 - Fri & Sat Eve Show
PWYC - Mon Eve (Suggested Ticket Price $10)
$5 - Eye Go Program, HIP Tix 10% Discount - Students, seniors & Groups Same Day Half Price - TO Tix
Walk with Israel
We would love to have you on board…
It’s Israel’s 60th birthday, and we are planning a fantastic celebration! As co-chairs of the 2008 UJA Federation Walk with Israel, we are excited to announce that this year’s event - the world’s largest solidarity Walk in support of Israel - is being held on Sunday, May 25, 2008. The fabulous Kick-Off Party begins at 9:30 a.m. at Coronation Park (across from the Prince’s Gates at the corner of Lakeshore and Strachan). The Walk begins, rain or shine, at 10:30 a.m., and ends with our amazing Carnival and famous kosher BBQ at the Direct Energy Building at Exhibition Place.
In keeping with the theme of Israel’s 60th, we would like to invite your synagogue to participate in a friendly competition. We are challenging you to gather in groups of 60 or more, and walk together under your synagogue’s banner. Invite your Sunday school students and their families to join you, and be rewarded with a framed photograph to hang in your synagogue, and a digital version to go on your website.
As the Walk is a key fundraiser for United Jewish Appeal, we are also challenging your “60 for 60” team to raise $60 per person. Teams that raise a minimum of $3600 will receive free Tshirts and passes to the Carnival. A portion of the proceeds will go to children and their families in Sderot, who have been forced to endure unrelenting rocket attacks from Gaza. Please contact your synagogue’s office for further competition details as well as our website at www.walkwithisrael.com.
Thank you in advance for your tremendous cooperation. The Walk is our opportunity to engage all members of our 200,000 strong Jewish communities, to show our pride in being Jewish, and our love and support for Israel. We can’t wait to walk with you.
Ruth Ekstein and Helen Silverstein
CoChairs, 2008 UJA Walk with Israel
Part 3 of Telling the Story: Beginning the Old Testament
THE CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER EXPLORES LEVITICUS
IN WORDS AND MUSIC, TUESDAY, MAY 6
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein opens up the Book of Leviticus at the Church of the Redeemer (Anglican), 162 Bloor Street W., Tuesday, May 6, 7-9 p.m. The evening is the third in the series, Telling the Story: Beginning The Old Testament, in which The Redeemer explores the first five books of the Bible through storytelling, lectures and music.
Admission is free, but participants must register by Friday, May 2. To register, call 416•922•4948, or visit www.theredeemer.ca -> News/Information. A community meal will be served 6-6:45 p.m. in the parish hall, for the suggested donation of $8 per person.
Rabbi Goldstein, director and founding rabbi of Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning, comments, “Leviticus is perhaps the most perplexing book of the Bible for modern readers. Is it all about blood and water, sacrifices and leprosy, or is there a drama and a meaning we don’t see unless we dig deeper? Leviticus speaks to us of connection, calling, cleansing, closeness and creation.”
The Rev’d Andrew Asbil, Incumbent of the Church of the Redeemer, invites people of all faiths or of none to look at how the biblical stories were shaped, how to read more deeply and how to ask new questions.
As teacher for the evening, Rabbi Goldstein will focus on three passages from Leviticus, a biblical book of moral and civil law and rituals and celebrations.
Complementing the readings and discussion will be contemporary music for piano, saxophone, drums and vocals, led by Redeemer musician Scott Christian. Judy Maddren, host of CBC Radio’s World Report, will present selections from Leviticus.
After graduating summa cum laude and Phil Beta Kappa from Brandeis University, Rabbi Goldstein earned her master’s degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained there in 1983. Her first position after ordination was assistant Rabbi at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple. From 1986 to 1991, she served as Rabbi of Temple Beth David in Canton, Massachusetts.
One of seven women featured in the National Film Board documentary, Half the Kingdom, she also writes articles for both scholarly and popular journals. She is the author of ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens, and Seek Her Out; and editor of The Women’s Torah Commentary, and The Women’s Haftarah Commentary. She is the 2005 recipient of the most prestigious award in Jewish education, the internationally recognized Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators. Other honors include the UJA Federation’s Rabbinic Achievement Award, ORT Canada Woman of the Year, and YWCA Toronto’s Woman of Distinction Award.
The next two evenings of Telling the Story: Beginning The Old Testament will take place Tuesdays, June 10 (Numbers) and September 30 (Deuteronomy).
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