Author: shjroc5_wp

Shalom

Shalom. Beth Haskalah’s Hanukah celebration will be on Friday, December 27th at 6 pm at Ellie’s, in the social kitchen area. Remember to bring your khanukiah (menorah). Also bring your own place settings for dinner.

We have latkes, applesauce, and sour cream taken care of. Please let me know if you are able to be with us (and how many) and what you are bringing to the vegan potluck dinner.
Please call me at 585-329-3305 or baswan@aol.com if you have any questions . (Directions or location or anything else.)

Looking forward to seeing you.

Shalom, Barry Swan madrikh

SHALOM שלום
The summer is winding down and the very late High Holidays are coming soon. We may start to assess ourselves on how we lived this past year.
This is the end of a year of challenges beyond our expectations. We have to continue to adjust to these changes.
I get many internet offerings concerning the many responses that come from the various segment of the Jewish world. Many of them have parts that are bolstering our view of our Jewish lives. Some are “right on the mark” and totally amplify the value of our humanistic Jewish point of view.
I will bring examples of these (printed) to our High Holiday services. You will be able to see the variety of possibilities open to us because parts of the Jewish world have been making more investments in actively making our world better. A example is the “Never Again Action” movement, even a “Never Again Rochester” group on Facebook. (This will also be discussed at our first study group on Oct. 13th.) Please feel free to bring your own unique links for the group, to either the study group or services.

Rosh Hashanah will be celebrated on Sunday, September 29th at 5 pm.  We will have our service and then have our usual vegan put luck.   Please contact me so I can direct you to the location and discuss what to bring for the vegan pot luck.

Looking forward to seeing you all at Rosh Hashanah. Please contact me if you have any concerns or questions.
Shalom, Barry Swan, Madrikh

baswan@aol.com   585-329-3305

Our first study group of the year will be on Sunday, October 13 at 7pm .  (Call me- Barry Swan for directions.  585-329-3305   Our first study group of the year is usually an affirmation of our secular humanistic Jewish values.  This year we may do this by appraising the ways that we can activate these values in our lives.  This has been a particularly turbulent year and we must choose how we respond to its challenges.

Our first study group will be a discussion of the ways we can participate in both local and national (or worldwide) activities which promote our values.  We can discuss activities which emerge from our humanistic values as well as our Jewish values.

We can see that there are many opportunities.  We will discuss a great variety of opportunities with varying levels of explanations.  I know that many individuals in our group have both ideas and specific contacts which may be presented to the group.

While adding to the list of our own personal options, we will also see the possibilities of our participation in a group Beth Haskalah activity.  The Jewish community, which has had issues dividing it, seems to have come together over immigration.  The “Never Again” movement  has been spurred on by a serious Jewish youth response.  It has affected Jewish youth like no movement in recent memory.  Jewish congregations and other organizations have joined together to invoke the tragic memory of the helpless Jews who could not find a refuge.  This issue has resonated with Jewish youth.

An example is an article on the SHJ temple in Detroit.:
The Birmingham Temple, Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Detroit, MI featured in a Detroit Jewish News Article.
https://thejewishnews.com/2019/08/02/immigration-installation-comes-to-birmingham-temple/.

Please bring your ideas to this discussion.  I am looking forward to this discussion.
Shalom , Barry Swan          baswan@aol.com

Shalom. The Beth Haskalah study group for January will be on Sunday, January 13th at 7 pm at Ellie’s. Please call me at 585-329-3305 for directions.

We will be looking at the complicated issue of George Soros. He was a penniless Holocaust survivor who became the amazing investor who “broke the Bank of England”, although he would rather have been a philosopher. He was also investing heavily in post-Soviet Europe, attempting to spread democracy there. His actions included founding a university in Hungary to support the free exchange of ideas. This was so controversial that the university has been expelled from Hungary.

To further complicate the perception of George Soros, the conservative right has decided to use him like previous generations used the Rothschild family. 21st century anti-semitism has been linked to another Jew, George Soros, as well as the concept of globalism.

See you on the 13th next year.

Shalom, Barry

BETH HASKALAH Calendar 2019 – 2020 (5780)

__________________________When__________________________Where___

Rosh Hashanah  Sun., Sept. 29, 5 pm Goldsteins’

Yom Kippur        Wed. , Oct 9, 6 pm “Break the Fast”. Cherin’s

Sukkot     Sunday, Oct.. 13,

Hanukah                Friday, Dec. 27, 6 pm Cherin’s

Tu B’Shevat Seder    Monday, Feb. 10      in Sunday School

Purim                  Wednesday, March 11 in Sunday School

Passover               Thursday, Apr. 9, 6 pm Brighton Town Park

———————————————————————————————
Study Groups     2nd Sundays   Ellie’s

Time: 7 pm, except for Dec, Jan, & Feb- 3 pm

9/8,  10/13, 11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/8, 4/12, 5/10, 6/14
———————————————————————————————
Shabbat  Celebrations:   Fall: Friday, Spring:

——————————————–

BH Board Meetings:
——————————————–

Sunday School Meeting TBA

Humanistic High Holiday Services

Even though the surplus of heat and humidity do not even hint that autumn is coming, the calendar tells us the Jewish New Year is on its way.

As Humanist Jews, we can use this time to review the last year. We can review the good things we have done and plan how we will make this next year even better. We can also assess what we did this year which we should not have done and what we should have done which we did not.

The Jewish High Holidays for 5779 are:

Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, September 9th at 5 pm.
Yom Kippur “Break the Fast” on Wednesday, September 19th.

For Rosh Hashanah, we will have our
service starting at 5 pm, to be followed
by our potluck. To err is
We will celebrate Yom Kippur with a short human, “Breaking the Fast” service at 6 pm To forgive, before breaking our fast. human. Call me (585-329-3305)
if you have any questions.

Please contact me (Barry Swan 585-329-3305, baswan@aol.com) to get more information including driving directions. Please also let me know how many people will attend and what you will bring to the potluck. [If you need help deciding what to bring to the vegan potluck, Ellie may be able to help you. (585-271-2116)]

Looking forward to seeing you.

Shalom, Barry Swan, madrikh, Beth Haskalah