Programs
Guess Who's Coming for Dinner - see your Temple Bulletin and reserve today!
NEIGHBORHOOD POT LUCK SUPPERS
Interested in meeting other Temple members living in your neighborhood? Several congregants throughout the city have offered to host a Saturday night Havdallah/Pot Luck Supper at their homes.
For details on when and where the gathering closest to you will take place, contact the Temple Israel Caring Committee's Margaret Delicate or George Speevak-Sladowski caring@templeisraelottawa.ca
Caring Corner
Members of the committee have been hard at work fulfilling our mandate to help create an inclusive, welcoming Temple community. Among our activities has been the filling of welcoming Shabbat baskets, which we have delivered to each of our new member families. We have continued to reach out to new people at our Shabbat Services and will be involved in the “New Members’ Dinner” on January 22.
In order to increase conviviality, light refreshments will be available prior to our Friday night Shabbat Services. Starting January 8 we hope this will help to create an opportunity for people to meet and greet each other before the service.
If you know of someone who is ill or in mourning please let us know and we will send the person a card. Two new members have just joined us and we welcome others who are interested in our goals to become past of the committee. You can contact Annette if you wish to participate or is you have any suggestions for us.
Caring Committee Request
Looking for volunteer hosts for pot-luck dinners in the following areas:
Gatineau, Orleans, Downtown, The Market, Ottawa South, Civic Hospital,
Carlingwood, Ottawa West/Algonquin College, Barrhaven, Kanata, Manotick, Greenbank area
Are you willing to host 8-12 others for a pot-luck dinner in your home?
Contact caring@templeisraelottawa.ca
Books n’ Bagels
Third Annual Book Discussion Series
Sunday March 21, 2010 at 9:30 am
Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen
Reviewed by Linda Rossman, Associate University Librarian, Carleton University
Sunday April 11, 2010 at 9:30 am
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Reviewed by Mary Jane Maffini, author of three mystery series
This year’s series features books guaranteed to stimulate discussion. Everyone is invited to enjoy a complimentary breakfast beginning at 9:30 am, followed by a presentation and discussion at 10:00am.
All books are available through the Ottawa Public Library. The Temple Israel Library, Malca Pass Library and Greenberg Families Library (JCC) carry some of these titles as well. Please contact Shayla Mindell with any questions or comments.
Kos Rishon
Temple Israel has embarked on a new social project named “Kos Rishon” (First cup). Every Monday from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, Temple members and their friends are welcome to come to Temple Israel for a casual get-together. There is no specific program, but people can choose to discuss any topic. This is an attempt to create a friendly environment so that people can feel more connected to the community and make new friends over complimentary light refreshments.
Sami Sourani
Babies and Tots
Babies and Tots is a new Temple playgroup for babies, preschoolers and their parents, meeting on Tuesday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15 am in the basement of the shul. Join us for play, crafts, and lots of fun. Please bring your own peanut-free snack.
Drop-in and stay as long as you like, there is a pay what you can fee (suggested $2 per visit) to cover the cost of the craft supplies and the toys. Feel free to contact Dina for more information.
CAMP GEORGE – A REPORT FROM THREE FAMILIES
Dear Fellow Congregants:
We are longtime members of Temple Israel and also parents of young children. Like many other parents at Temple Israel, and in the wider Jewish community, we spend a lot of time thinking - and worrying - about Jewish continuity.
Nurturing a sustainable Jewish identity in today's children can be difficult, as reflected in the alarming statistics. Rates of affiliation and community participation continue to decline. If you are a Jewish parent there's a good chance that your grandchildren won't identify as Jewish. Jewish literacy - cultural, religious, historical - can dissipate within the space of a single generation.
We try to counteract the pressures that erode Jewish identity by joining a synagogue (Temple Israel, in our case), and enrolling our children in the religious school, But there is another measure that our families are taking: We have begun sending our children to Jewish summer camp.
This past summer, our children attended Camp George, in Parry Sound, about a four and half hour drive from Ottawa. Camp George is affiliated with the Union of Reform Judaism, and in the 11 years or so since its inception it has earned a reputation as one of the best Jewish camps in North America.
For two of us (Goldstein and Stern), this past summer was our children's first experience with Camp George. It was sensational. The camaraderie, the facilities, the programming, the Jewish content - we were so impressed with all of it, and with the positive effect it had on our children, that we have undertaken to write this letter that you are now reading.
There is, it turns out, a growing body of research showing that Jewish camps have a unique impact on children, in terms of planting the seeds of Jewish commitment. As one recent article noted, "Once [children] experience the peace of a 25-hour Shabbat in a serene setting with friends, along with the music, sports, arts and other activities of the typical camping week, even if they did not think they wanted a connection to Judaism, a lasting one has been made.
A study out of Brandeis University found that Jewish summer camps have a socializing effect on young Jews that is simply unmatched by other Jewish institutions because, as one of the study's authors put it, camps engage our children "heart, mind and body." In the language of psychology, Jewish camps allow children to "try on new behaviours”.
It would be nice to see more Temple Israel children spend a few weeks at Camp George next summer. Our own children will be there. Our one regret, as we write this, is that Camp George - the only camp tailored for Reform families - did not exist when we ourselves were of camping age.
A final point. We know as well as anyone that the cost of living Jewishly is high. It's hard enough for young families - our own included - to pay synagogue dues and religious school fees. And now summer camp? We too were skeptical about whether the sacrifice would be worth it. But having experienced Camp George, we've concluded that it is.
Please visit the Camp George website, at http://george.urjcamps.org. Start by clicking on the camp video. A representative from the Camp is planning to visit Temple Israel on November 20 at the Shabbat Dinner Service, and you can get more information then - or you can call any of us whose names are attached to this letter. We hope you'll come to see, as we have, why Camp George is a sound investment in the Jewish future of our children.
Richard Marceau David Goldstein Leonard Stern
Tzedakah to Israel
In addition to the baby quilts, a large number of warm baby clothes, teddy bears and blankets have been distributed through our contacts. Temple Israel recently donated a duffel bag of quilts, clothes for newborns and infants, as well as over 50 teddy bears to Shalva, in Jerusalem, which provides therapy and ongoing family support for families who have children who are mentally disabled.
In December, a large donation will be delivered to the neo-natal unit at the hospital in Tzfat to ensure that babies going home will have warm clothing for the cold winter months in the north of Israel. Donations of new items of clothing for children and babies, towels, facecloths, soothers, receiving blankets, medicine dosettes, can be left in the crib in the school hall downstairs. Many thanks to the generous donors and to the deliverers.
Annette Paquin
Dear Ms. Paquin, Mr. Osterer and the dear members of Temple Israel,
Thank you very much for your generous and lovely gifts. You have answered one of our most pressing needs for the winter - baby clothes and blankets. Many infants receive vital therapies at Shalva, but lack at home the basic items every baby requires during the cold season, and for that we are truly appreciative.
I apologize for our lack of communication, and would like to personally thank Mr. Osterer for kindly bringing the bag to Shalva. If you could please advise Mr. Osterer's contact details, I would be grateful. Thank you again for you support and the wonderful gifts.
Wishing you Shana Tova and all the best,
Sharona
SHALVA - The Association for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Israel
Tel: 02-651-9555 ext. 102
Cell:?054-537-1518
Fax: 02-653-5787
http://www.shalva.org/
