Friday, June 1, 2018

Torah Fund June 2018


Do you ever stop and think how quickly time goes by? Does it seem that we just began the year 2017-2018 Torah Fund campaign and now we are looking forward to 2018-2019?
I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every Torah Fund contributor who helped make this a successful campaign. 


We are devoted to nurturing Jewish life by strengthening the great institutions of the Conservative Movement, JTS in New York, Ziegler School, Los Angeles, Schechter Institute, Jerusalem, Seminary, Buenas Aires and now Potsdam, Germany

We are blessed in our synagogues with depth of learning, prayer, and acts of kindness that bind us together with leaders who are thoughtful and learned; and with the love of family and friends. By supporting Torah Fund, our mission remains the same: educating rabbis, cantors, educators, scholars and future lay leaders that our communities need to energize the vital center of religious life.

Again, thank you for your continued support of Torah Fund.   

Bobbie Cohen (818) 764-7952
Torah Fund V.P.

Birthdays, Anniversaries, Celebrations June 2018

Our favorite thing to do is CELEBRATE together.  At VBI we hope you will always tell us of the good fortune in your life and allow us to join in your celebration.
Please tell us of the births, engagements, weddings, promotions, bar/bat mitzvoth and other wonderful things for which we can celebrate and share in your joy.
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Congratulations to Sandy and Merrill Bonar in honor of the wedding of their granddaughter Aliya, to Eric. 

Aliya is the daughter of Jeffrey and Nanci Bonar, and Jeff is a graduate of our Hebrew School.

We wish them a lifetime of good health and happiness!!!

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We start each month with a Choral Shabbat as the congregation celebrates birthdays and anniversaries.  Join us Friday evening June 1st 2018, as we celebrate together.  Services begin at 7:30pm

(Please send your birthday acknowledgements to your new newsletter editor, Michelle Jacobs, at redheadsrule20000@hotmail.com).

Please let Judy Knigin know if you will be celebrating a birthday in the coming month, or if you would like to sponsor an Oneg Shabbat or Kiddush Luncheon. (818) 782-2281.

We love to honor our congregants as they celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or other milestone. If you have reason to celebrate, let us know! 

Better yet, add your birthdays and anniversaries to your contact information in the office or by updating your contact information here.

Volunteer Opportunities June 2018


As a great synagogue with a small congregation, Valley Beth Israel grows and thrives as a result of it's dedicated volunteers.  And we need more help! 

Our volunteers help plan and organize our events, build toward the future as members of our Board, and hold many other roles in between.  YOUR help is most definitely wanted, and needed.  



Pauline Reich, wanted to remind us that she collects items for servicemen and women, soldiers overseas, and needy veterans here at home. She's been doing this for many years, and needs our help!!
There is a box in the Temple entry on the left side on top of the glass display counter. Here is a list of the useful items Pauline will happily collect:

Birthday, Holiday cards, etc.- that you get in the mail
Pads you get in the mail
Candy - nothing twist ties - must be sealed on all 4 sides
Pens
Snacks, cookies, chips,- individual packages
Toothbrushes
Hot Chocolate Mixes
Foot Powder
Ramen Noodles
Travel Games
Magazines (within the year)
Decks of cards
Soft cover books

If you would be kind enough to bring it to the Temple Lobby, Pauline picks up donations weekly.

Should there be anything the soldiers cannot use, it is given to the veterans at the VA.

Pauline also collects your empty ink cartridges from your printers. They are sold to a company and the money made is used to send all these items overseas.

THESE MEN AND WOMEN ARE  'OUT THERE FOR US'.  IT IS THE LEAST WE CAN CAN DO FOR THEM!!!

Thanks for your help in advance.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at: 818-764-8466

If you want to be involved, but cannot fully commit to a task, please let us know as we would be thrilled to have a list of volunteers we can contact as needs arise.

  • Board Members
  • Event Planning - including creating flyers and marketing our events
  • Event Preparation - shopping / cooking / serving / set up / clean up

As you may know, Candice Gottlieb-Clark had been writing our newsletter for the past two years. Candice is moving out of state,so her sister, Michelle Jacobs, has taken on this task. If you have anything you wish to have added to the newsletter, please email Michelle at redheadsrule20000@hotmail.com. Please email your submissions by the 25th of the month, to allow ample time to include your contribution to the following month's newsletter. 

President's message 2018

Shalom Everyone,

                It has been another difficult month at Valley Beth Israel. We have lost another one of the people who have been so instrumental in what happened at our synagogue. Gloria Sheftel passed away after a relatively short illness. Gloria for many years was the editor of the bulletin that was mailed to everyone and in her inimitable way she was able to coax everyone that had to make an input work with her. That was in the days of cut-and-paste. You would find her in the office spread out on one of the desks directing how the final product would be. Sometimes she and I would butt heads but her heart was definitely in the right place. Getting a word in was a difficult matter as she would constantly complete your sentences whether you liked it or not. I will miss her; past presidents of the congregation are hard to come by since I’ve had the job for so long. 

                After counting the omer for seven weeks we celebrated the holiday of Shavuot. Much like Passover the services were not very well attended. Somehow we need to remember why Valley Beth Israel is here; we are a religious institution and the morning, Shabbat and holiday (all holidays) services are most important. Try to attend just a little bit more than you currently do. We have some of our newer members attending and you should come to meet them.

                As I have pointed out in recent messages we are in the midst of a severe financial crisis. Many things are being done to get us back on an even keel. Our May Board meeting specifically dealt with the synagogue budget and all who were there worked not as individual committee members but as a committee of the whole and I think it ended splendidly. We crunched numbers and produced a somewhat workable budget. We found ways to cut expenses by approximately two thousand dollars a month and as we look closer there may be a few more dollars that can be subtracted from what we have projected in prior years. To “balance” our budget requires us to bring in more revenue. As our membership has stayed pretty much the same we need to raise our dues across-the-board by a minimal 10% and it will be reflected in the billing statements that will go out during this month. Please help us by paying your dues/fees as soon as possible either in full or at least half of your total amount.

                The June Board meeting will center on ways and means. That’s the fund-raising that the synagogue must do to close the gap between dues, high holidays and other income projections versus the budget for 2018-19. We have a number of dinners and events planned and several restaurants will be helping us by giving back to our synagogue a portion of the proceeds they take in on nights that we designate. Please participate when we tell you the date and location. You have to eat anyway. We’ve got a long way to go but I am confident that we’re going to make it.

                Remember: our time to make changes is NOW!! Be a part of the change.


  Ron

Schticky Corner, June 2018


by Ringo Cowan (and friends)

Submit your Schticky contributions to Roger@ValleyBethIsrael.org
This fun column is filled with Jewish humor, some off-color humor, and stories to enjoy.


A couple, both age 78, went to a sex therapist's office. The doctor asked, "What can I do for you?"
The man said, "Will you watch us have sex?"
The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed.
When the couple finished, the doctor said, "There's nothing wrong with the way you have sex," and charged them $50.
This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have sex with no problems, pay the doctor, then leave.
Finally, the doctor asked, "Just exactly what are you trying to find out?"
"We're not trying to find out anything," the husband replied.
"She's married and we can't go to her house. I'm married and we can't go to my house. The Holiday Inn charges $90. The Hilton charges $108. We do it here for $50...and I get $43 back from Medicare

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A Jewish fairy tale
Once upon a time there was a Jewish man and a Jewish woman
One day the Jewish man asked the Jewish lady “will you marry me?”
The Jewish woman said "no"
And the Jewish man lived happily ever
The end
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The census taker comes to the Goldman house.
“Does Louis Goldman live here?” he asks.
“No,” replies Goldman.
“Well, then, what is your name?”
“Louis Goldman.”
“Wait a minute–didn’t you just tell me that Goldman doesn’t live here?”
“Aha,” says Goldman. “You call this living?”

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The IRS and the Rabbi

The auditor is doing all the checks, and then turns to the Rabbi and says, "I noticed that you buy a lot of candles." "Yes," answered the Rabbi. "Well, Rabbi, what do you do with the candle drippings?" he asked. "A good question," noted the Rabbi. "We actually save them up. When we have enough, we send them back to the candle maker and every now and then, they send us a free box of candles." "Oh," replied the auditor somewhat disappointed that his question actually had a practical answer.

So he thought he'd try another question, in his obnoxious way... "Rabbi, what about all these matzo purchases? What do you do with the crumbs from the matzo? "Ah, yes," replied the Rabbi calmly, "we actually collect up the crumbs, we send them in a box back to the manufacturer and every now and then, they send a free box of matzo balls."

"Oh," replied the auditor, thinking hard how to fluster the Rabbi. "Well, Rabbi," he went on, "what do you do with all the foreskins from the circumcisions?" "Yes, here too, we do not waste," answered the Rabbi. "What we do is save up all the foreskins, and when we have enough we actually send them to the IRS ."

"To the IRS ?" questioned the auditor in disbelief. "Ah, yes," replied the Rabbi, "directly to The IRS ...And about once a year, they send us a little prick like you."
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RAIN
Two men of Chelm went out for a walk, when suddenly it began to rain.
“Quick,” said one. “Open your umbrella.”
“It won’t help,” said his friend. “My umbrella is full of holes.”
“Then why did you bring it?”
“I didn’t think it would rain!”

A RIDDLE
A man in Chelm once thought up a riddle that nobody could answer: “What’s purple, hangs on the wall and whistles?”
When everybody gave up, he announced the answer: a white fish.
“A white fish?” people said. “A white fish isn’t purple.”
“Nu,” replied the jokester, “this white fish was painted purple.”
“But hanging on a wall? Who ever heard of a white fish that hung on a wall?”
“Aha! But this white fish was hung on the wall.”
“But a white fish doesn’t whistle,” somebody shouted.
“Nu, so it doesn’t whistle.”

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IF ONLY THEY HAD A JEWISH MOTHER...funny!
MONA LISA'S JEWISH MOTHER: 
"After all the money your father and I spent on braces, this you call a smile?"

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS' JEWISH MOTHER:
“I don't care what you've discovered, you didn't call, you didn't write."

MICHELANGELO'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"A ceiling you paint? Not good enough for you the walls, like the other children? Do you know how hard it is to get that schmutz (dirt) off the ceiling?"

NAPOLEON'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"You're not hiding your report card? Show me! Take your hand out of your jacket and show me!"

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"Again with that hat! Why can't you wear a baseball cap like the other kids?"

THOMAS EDISON'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"Okay, so I'm proud that you invented the electric light bulb. Now turn it off already and go to sleep!"

PAUL REVERE'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"I don't care where you think you have to go, young man, midnight is long past your bedtime!"

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S JEWISH MOTHER:
"Your senior photograph and you couldn't have done something with your hair?"

MOSES' JEWISH MOTHER:
"Desert, schmesert! Where have you really been for the last forty years?"

BILL GATES' JEWISH MOTHER:
"It would have killed you to become a doctor?"

BILL CLINTON'S JEWISH MOTHER: 
"Well, at least she was a nice Jewish girl, that... Monica."
________________________
Q: Did you hear about the new facility Kraft Foods is building in Israel? 
A: It's called "Cheeses of Nazareth.

Q: What is the proper blessing to recite before logging on to the Internet? 
A: "Modem anachnu loch... 
____________________________
An elderly couple were having dinner one evening when the husband reached across the table, took his wife's hand in his and said,
"Martha, soon we will be married 50 years, and there's something I have to know. In all of these 50 years, have you ever been unfaithful to me?"

Martha replied, "Well Henry, I have to be honest with you. Yes, I've been unfaithful to you on three occasions during these 50 years, but always for a good reason.

Henry was obviously hurt by his wife's confession, but said, "I never suspected. Can you tell me what you mean by 'good reasons?' "

Martha said, "The first time was shortly after we were married, and we were about to lose our little house because we couldn't pay the mortgage. Do you remember that evening I went to see the banker and the next day he notified you that the loan would be extended?”

Henry recalled the visit to the banker and said, "I can forgive you for that. You saved our home, but what about the second time?"

Martha asked, "Do you remember when you were so sick, but we didn't have the money to pay for the heart surgery you needed? Well, I went to see your doctor one night and, if you recall, he did the surgery at no charge."

"I recall that," said Henry. "And you did it to save my life, so of course I can forgive you for that. Now tell me about the third time."
  
"All right," Martha said. "So do you remember when you ran for president of your golf club, and you needed 53 more votes?”
________________________________________________
Feinstein returned home from a business trip to discover that his wife had cheated on him
“Who was it?” he roared. “That bastard Wolf?”
“No,” replied his wife. “It wasn’t Wolf.”
“Was it Green, that creep?”
“No, it wasn’t him.”
“I know — it must have been that idiot Sherman.”
“No, it wasn’t Sherman, either.”
Feinstein was furious. “Whatsa matter?” he cried. “None of my friends is good enough for you?”
___________________________________________________________
Schwartz is sitting in his room, wearing only a top hat, when Steinberg strolls in.
“Why are you sitting here naked?”
“It’s all right,” says Schwartz. “Nobody comes to visit.”
“So why the hat?”
“Maybe somebody will come.”

_______________________________________________________

Moishe Goldberg was heading out of the Synagogue one day, and as always Rabbi Mendel was standing at the door, shaking hands as the Congregation departed. The rabbi grabbed Moishe by the hand, pulled him aside and whispered these words at him: "You need to join the Army of God!"

Moishe replied: "I'm already in the Army of God, Rabbi."

The rabbi questioned: "Then how come I don't see you except for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?"

Moishe whispered back: "I'm in the secret service."
_____________________________________
A man was standing by a grave as another man was crying out, "Why did you die? Why did you die?"

The man walked up and approached him, asking him if it was a close relative buried there.

He replied it wasn't. 

"It must have been a close friend".

"No, I never knew him."  He looks back at the grave,  "Why did you die?"

"Then who is buried here?"

"My wife's first husband.  Why did you die?  Why did you die?"
____________________________________________________________________________

A man and his wife walked into a dentist's office. The man said to the dentist, "Doc, I'm in one heck of a hurry. I have two buddies sitting out in my car waiting for us to go play golf, so forget about the anaesthetic, I don't have time for the gums to get numb. I just want you to pull the tooth, and be done with it! We have a 10:00am tee time at the best golf course in town and it's 9:30already...I don't have time to wait for the anesthetic to work!”

 

The dentist thought to himself, "Well, well, at last a golfer with real balls!!"

 

So the dentist asks him, "Which tooth is it sir?"

 

The man turned to his wife and said, "Open your mouth, honey, and show the dentist.”

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Q.  Why do Jewish women make great parole officers?
A.  Because they never let anyone finish a sentence 
Q.  If Tarzan and Jane were Jewish what would Cheetah be?
A.  A fur coat

Jokes from past editions:

Q.  What do you call a Jewish male tea bag?

A.  A He-brew


Q.  According to Jewish doctrine, when does a fetus become a human?

A.  When it graduates from Med School