Friday Night/Erev Shabbat Rabbi Phil Cohen leads Kabbalat Shabbat services at 6:30 pm. The service includes prayers, songs and a few words of Torah. Check in with friends and share Shabbat.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84124865329 – Meeting ID: 841 2486 5329
Sisterhood Summer Programs (below) Golgotha August 18 @ 6:30 pm (below) Seminarion Mondays @ 7:30 pm – cancelled until August 9th Tefilah Tuesdays @ 7 pm – cancelled until August 10th Hebrew Bible with Howard Lidsky Sundays @ noon @ CBS
CBS Reopening
CBS is open! We continue to Zoom weekly Shabbat services, and we also are in-person every other week in the sanctuary for both Friday evening and Saturday morning services.
Shabbat services and Torah study this weekend, July 23rd and July 24th, will be held via Zoom.
CBS Budget & Planning
The CBS Board is holding a special meeting to discuss the 2021/22 budget and future planning tonight, July 22, at 7 pm.
from Rabbi Phil Cohen
In the summertime
Here we are, into my first month of my second year of my time with you, and it’s summer. Seems we might be genetically coded to accept the heat and slow down. People vacation, visit friends and relatives, camp, and do some slow reflecting on this and on that, knowing that after summer comes the fall. The High Holidays are early this year, so prep for them is on our mind. Still, it’s summer, and some folks have flown to distant reaches. I’ll be in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with much of the mishpocha next week, our first family vacation in a while.
But, meanwhile, as we all are aware, in some places, summer’s heat has been well above average. In Southwest Canada, for instance (not to mention Northwest America), where summer temps normally do not exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and folks therefore are not accustomed to having air conditioning in their homes, the heat has climbed well above 100. This has led to many deaths, as well as contributing to the intensity of the fire season.
After years of willfully ignoring the signs, climate change is upon us with a dramatic bang. And we’re now smack in the middle of a world of our own making and ignoring reality has become virtually impossible.
After years of preaching the interlocking nature of the planet, the people, flora, fauna, and all else, I have been forced to understand the deep reality of that claim. The time has arrived, long passed actually, stand up and do what we can.
Of course, what we can do, no longer involves turning the clock back. Damage has been done. Our hope, and it’s a hope that carries some degree of reality, is to freeze things where they are, to prevent climate change from worsening.
Over the course of this coming year, I hope to encourage work within our congregational family that will lead to efforts both practical and theoretical, to do and to teach, that will enable us to do some good and at the same time to declare that we have done something to help the Earth.
No matter our age, young or old, we will be leaving this planet to others someday. Let’s work to alleviate the anxiety we experience when we consider what we might be leaving as an inheritance because we failed to do what we could.
Shabbat shalom, Phil
Rabbi Phil M. Cohen
Soup for Chesed
It’s not winter but we do have friends in our congregation who are ill, have had surgery or just are in need of a boost of chicken soup (or vegetarian soup). The Chesed committee would like to restock the freezer with soup that we can deliver to members who are in need of some TLC. If you can make some chicken soup (or veggie soup) and have some to spare, please contact Sheri Radman-Iken. Put it in containers of 2 or 3 servings and Sheri will store it in her freezer. If you know of anyone who could use some, let Sheri know and it will be lovingly delivered.
Contact Sheri at sheri@sheriradman.com
CBS Website
CBS Website Content Refresh:
As the online “face” of our synagogue, the CBS Board and Rabbinic Search Committee are going to be quickly updating our current website content. It is woefully out of date and will likely be a fairly large effort. We have asked some volunteers to reach out in this process to gather information from relevant subject matter experts. All we ask is if someone contacts you, please do your best to respond quickly as we are trying to get this updated before potential rabbinic candidates start visiting virtually. If you feel you are such an expert and want to be proactive in offering content changes, feel free to contact me directly (sethrosner@gmail.com) and I will put you in touch with the members working on that section.
Thank you for your help in getting this completed.
Seth Rosner
This last year has been long, isolating, and lonely for many. Like the rest of our society, we need to transition safely to programming that will bring us together and nurture our body and soul.
This summer we are planning some great programs:
Crafting * Food * Friendship
Monday, July 26 @ 7 pm – Crafting with Friends Bring your craft projects or start a new one with your CBS sisters. Enjoy refreshments and get your creativity flowing.
* Beginning Mah-Jongg *
Sisterhood has a long tradition of Mah-Jongg matches and tournaments. It’s time to raise the next generation of players. Are you interested in learning? Now’s your chance!
Mandana Hakimi offers instruction for beginners – next session TBA.
* Covid Considerations *
Are masks required? Inside the building: yes. Outside: optional Are the programs indoors? Depends on the weather; if indoors, masks are required. Will we be social distancing? Yes, unless masks are worn. Are vaccinations required to attend? No.
Join us on August 18 for a special performance of this one-act play, the proceeds of which will benefit Congregation Beth Shalom
Golgotha is a monodrama by Shmuel Refael, which centers on Albert Salvado, a Holocaust survivor from Thessalonica who, in the winter of 1943, was sent with his wife and two daughters to Auschwitz. Albert was forced to serve as a sonderkommando [a member of a work unit in the camps, usually a Jew] while his wife and daughters were murdered.
Albert tells his story in this one-act play, which was first performed in Columbia at the Mizzou New Play Series in 2019 through the efforts of David Crespy.
Now, after a long delay due to the pandemic, the play is being performed at Talking Horse Productions, 210 St. James Street. Aaron Krawitz plays Albert Salvado. Julie Rosenfeld and Lydia Redding provide musical accompaniment, adding greatly to the dramatic power of this story.
CBS has generously been given the performance taking place on Wednesday, August 18, as a fundraiser. The event will begin at 6:30 with refreshments. There will be a talk-back with the members of the cast and crew following the show.
Tickets are $50/person for this very special event. Reserve yours via the CBS website – link to follow.
Rainmakers Needed!
With the arrival of the hot summer temperatures, please help keep the memorial garden at CBS growing by help lending a hand with the watering. The memorial garden is the two flower beds by the entrance to the new building.
If you have questions, please contact Tanya Christiansen at tj_christiansen@yahoo.com. Thanks for your help!
CBS Library
We’re excited to start gathering again, and making the library more accessible both in-person and online. In order to do that, we need … YOU! We have over 3,000 books in the library that need to be entered into our new online catalog – work that can be done at home on your own time. And the more volunteers we have, the less work each needs to do!
If you’re interested in doing some data entry work this summer, please email Jenn Book Haselswerdt at jenn.book@gmail.com.
Donations
On the yahrzeit of my stepson, Caleb Emme
Art Auer
There is a long tradition to memorialize the life cycles of our families with an inscribed plaque mounted on the walls of our sanctuary. To honor a birth, wedding, anniversary, etc., and to remember a loved one who has passed allows our Jewish community to share in this event. This is also a helpful fundraiser. Please contact Rebecca Smith at 573-449-7391 for assistance.
Donations of $250 per plaque for the memorial and simcha boards can be sent to CBS at the address below.
Donations to CBS are a good way to remember or honor people and special life events. Your gift can be directed to the CBS general fund, the rabbi’s discretionary fund (RDF), the library, the Sasha Yelon book fund or the school scholarship fund.
Send a check to CBS, 500 W Green Meadows Rd, Columbia 65203, with a note with details about honorees and where you’d like the notification sent. We’ll send a handwritten card as you direct.
Tell & Kvell!
Carol Greenspan was delighted to be recognized during CBS’s Social Justice Shabbat last month as the longtime host of Spectrum of Jewish Music on KOPN-FM.
Mazal Tov, Carol!
Have you received an award or a promotion, welcomed a new child to your family, or otherwise have reason to kvell? Share your good news with your CBS friends. Send an email to Mary at maxmax@mchsi.com to include in eShalom.
Interfaith Garden
The Interfaith Garden, located just past the CBS south parking lot, has started work on preparing the soil and planting spring crops. Each year CBS partners with members of the Newman Center to plant and harvest the garden, and the produce we grow is donated to the food bank. Last year we provided over 1500 pounds of fresh food.
We are wearing masks and working at a distance from one another to stay safe. There are no age requirements, nor is previous experience in gardening needed.
Currently we have workdays on Sundays from 10 am to noon. There will also be a workday during the week – days and times will be published in eShalom once determined. Some of our volunteers, once they are familiar with our operations, come out at other times, but not during Shabbat.
If you have interest in participating or questions, please contact any of the CBS coordinators: Michael Gold (mjhelgold@gmail.com,) Julie Deering (jdeering76@gmail.com), or Brent Lowenberg (brentlg@hotmail.com).
