Shabbat at Sea with Cantor Greenblatt
The Cantor led another wonderful weekend Shabbat Cruise December 3-7, 2009. Everyone that went enjoyed services, Torah study and spending time together. Cantor Greenblatt led a wonderful Torah study on Friday afternoon and then we hopped in the hot tub to relax and ponder her great teaching. Friday night services were attended not only by our members, but other cruise passengers as well. We took a Shabbat break in beautiful Cozemel, Mexico and on Sunday were treated to a second Torah study by our very own Al Sulkes!

How nice to have so many marvelous teachers in the middle of the ocean! The rock climbing (Scott is amazingly agile!), the desserts!, the Quest experiences and just plain relaxing! What could be better?

Did I hear someone say shows, endless food, karaoke and camaraderie? Yes, it was all good!
April Katine would like to hear from other congregants on what would let more people participate in this warm and amazing time together for next year? Please contact her at: aprilk@fddc.org.

Jewish Food and Cultural Festival Update:
There is lots of activity around the Temple these days. The Festival is coming! Plan to be there Sunday, March 21, 2010! The sounds, the tastes and oh what fun!!

Special Thanks!
Mike Frieder, one of our new members, has created a terrific website for our Jewish Food and Cultural Festival. If you want to check our his work and learn more about the festival go to http://www.tallahasseejewishfoodfestival.com/. Mike has a computer company in town, On Call Computer Solutions and is using his expertise to help us. A big Thank You to Mike!

Dani O’Quinn has stepped up to be in charge of Sponsorships. If you would like to help Dani to contact potential sponsors or you have ideas on who her committee should contact, please let her know. It is so wonderful to have our Temple Community step up to help put this fun and profitable (we hope!) event together.

Barbara Rosen is busy contacting vendors. Thanks Barbara! If you know of an artist who would like to show their wares please point them to the website for an application or let Barbara know.

The bakers are baking, the artists are creating, the musicians are rehearsing and of course our cooks are cooking! Everyone has some talent to lend so please think of at least one thing, small or large you can do to help make this a success! We need everyone to pitch in. From taking tickets the day of the event, to doing art for the publicity committee… lots to do!

Here are the committee chairs to contact if you want to help:
Overall Chairperson – April Katine
Assistant Chairperson – Debbie Herrell
Cooking – Karen Culpepper
Matzo Ball Soup – Dan Silver
Baking – Jill Klein
Vendors – Barbara Rosen
Entertainment – Sheryl Grossman
Publicity – Val Mindlin
Sponsorships – Dani O’Quinn
Website – Mike Frieder
Facilities and Parking – Peter Goren (Brotherhood)
It should be a yummy time!

Legal Services of North Florida Fundraiser
The Law Office of David H. Abrams, The Law Office of James V. Cook, and The Tallahassee Democratic Socialists
Invite you to a fundraiser to support North Florida Legal Service's efforts to save homes in the Florida Panhandle. North Florida Legal Services provides free legal representation to indigent individuals and families at risk of losing their homes. Tickets are by donation ($20 suggested). at Ray’s Steel City, 515 John Knox Road, Tallahassee on Thursday, December 17th from 6-9 p.m.

Come enjoy a gourmet holiday food buffet, Ray's famous potato pancakes, along with good friends and a joyous holiday celebration. Cash bar will be available.

Tallahassee Jewish Federation

The Tallahassee Jewish Federation (Federation) plays three key roles to enhance Jewish life.   First, it serves as an umbrella organization to support other Jewish organizations in town and facilitate coordination among them.   Second, Federation undertakes initiatives to serve the local Jewish community, and also to help Jews in need in Israel and throughout the world.   Third, Federation raises funds to pursue these goals.

Because Federation is a completely volunteer organization, we keep administrative costs to a minimum and use most of our money to support projects that enhance life for our local Jewish community and help Jews worldwide.

Federation’s current initiatives focus on three of our priorities - meeting the needs of our local youth, enriching cultural life for the local community, and supporting the needs of World Jewry - in addition to serving other key local constituencies (our seniors and emerging leaders).   A partial list of activities and projects follows:

1.  Serving our youth.

Camp Scholarships.   A major Federation priority is to provide scholarships to help our children attend Jewish summer camps.  We provided approximately $20,000 in scholarships for our youth in 2009.
Scholarships for our youth to travel to and study in Israel and beyond.   We also provide scholarships to students who study in Israel.
Camp Shalom.   Federation sponsors Camp Shalom, a local Jewish day camp.   The Camp was extremely successful once again in ‘08 and in ’09 – each year, in addition to 60 campers each week, more than 40 of our Jewish teens served as counselors.
Teen Philanthropy Initiative.   In the fall of ’08, Federation launched its Teen Philanthropy Initiative, intended to bring together Jewish teens from throughout the area and empower the teens to help meet community needs.   We are currently in the 2nd year of this very successful Initiative.  Teens from different congregations and five high schools (Chiles, Leon, Lincoln, Maclay, and Rickards) have participated.  Last year, they allocated a fund of approximately $8,500 to organizations that serve the needy - each teen contributed $100 to participate on the Teen Board and Federation added more than $5,000 to leverage the teens’ contributions.  Our hope is that this initiative will educate the teens about community needs and help them develop decision-making skills and the ability to work collaboratively that will enable them to contribute effectively to their communities in the future.  
2.   Engaging our young leaders.   Federation recently launched a Young Leaders Initiative to engage our “next generation” in the work of the Federation – to help these individuals learn about community needs and prepare them to take leadership roles in building and strengthening our community.  

3.   Meeting the needs of the local Jewish retirement community.   Federation is pleased to help sponsor Senior Schmooze as an opportunity for our seniors to meet and interact.   It also supports National Council of Jewish Women initiatives such as NCJW’s recent program to enhance recreational opportunities for the Tallahassee retirement community.  Federation has developed a survey to learn about the composition and needs of members of the Jewish retirement community in town, which is likely to grow in the coming years as the population ages.

4.   Support for community-wide education and cultural enrichment.   Federation has been pleased to support initiatives intended to enhance educational and cultural enrichment opportunities for the entire Tallahassee community.  

Holocaust Education.   Federation supports the Holocaust Education Resource Council (HERC) and other Holocaust education-related programs.  These efforts are of tremendous importance in the effort to teach people about the dangers of intolerance.  
Jewish Film Series.   Federation supports a Jewish Film Series with the Tallahassee Film Society.    We’ve been delighted with the films and with the substantial community participation. 
Enhancing Library Book Collections.   Federation helps to build the local libraries’ collections on Israel and World Jewry.
Fall Benefit Concert.   Federation sponsors a terrific fall benefit concert featuring nationally-renowned pianist James Streem.   This concert raises funds for an Israeli program that provides support for disadvantaged Israeli youth.
Israeli Independence Day Party.   Federation has been pleased to support the annual Independence Day Party, honoring Israel’s amazing achievements.
Learn about Israel Series.   Federation has co-sponsored this educational series with Temple Israel and Shomrei Torah to educate our youth and the general community about issues in Israel.
Hillel – Federation supports a variety of FSU Hillel activities, including Shabbat dinners, Leadership Development conferences, and educational opportunities in Israel.
School Board.   We have worked with the School Board to accommodate the needs of Jewish students during the Jewish holidays.
Support for Jews in Need.   Federation provides assistance to individual Jews in the community who need our support.
5.   Looking beyond local needs to help Jews in Israel and throughout the world.

Tallahassee’s Sister City.   Federation has helped to support Tallahassee’s sister city relationship with Ramat Hasharon, Israel, including supporting the visit to Tallahassee during the ’07 and ‘08 summers of Israeli high school science teachers from Ramat Hasharon.
Meeting Needs in Israel and helping Jews throughout the world.   Our Federation funds are used in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world.   We have helped rescue and resettle immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia to the safety of Israel.  In communities throughout Eastern Europe, we are helping to feed nearly 200,000 poor elderly Jews, many of them Holocaust survivors.  In Israel, in addition to the extraordinary work in immigration and absorption, the Federation/UJA system is also the single largest funding source of programs designed to foster religious pluralism and create an Israeli society in which Jews of all denominations feel at home
These Federation initiatives are examples of our efforts to enhance the quality of life in Tallahassee, in Israel, and throughout the world.   We welcome your ideas and support and hope you’ll contact us to learn more and get involved.

Israel Committee

2009 Chanukah Drive to Help Needy Children in Israel

Please contribute to our annual Chanukah Fund-Raising Drive to help needy children in Israel.   Chanukah traditionally is a time of year when our children look forward to receiving gifts.   This is the seventh year of a Temple initiative to highlight the importance of mitzvot and tzedekah during Chanukah by sharing the holiday with needy children in Israel.  

Some families have contributed the money they would otherwise spend on gifts for the children for at least one night of Chanukah to this effort to raise funds for the needy.   In this way the entire family can share in this mitzvah.   We hope each of you will consider the opportunity to share with those who are less fortunate.   

We’ve raised more than $10,000 in past years, thanks to everyone’s support, and we look forward to continuing this effort this year.   Please make a contribution through Lisa Slaton, Temple Administrator.  

TODAH RABAH!                           

The Israel Committee has a number of activities on tap for this year and welcomes anyone interested to join us.   Please contact Alvin Stauber (vinnysusan@comcast.net) or David Markell (dmark123@comcast.net) if you would like to help out with the Israel Committee this year.   We’ll be organizing the 7th annual Israeli Independence Day Party this spring and look forward to working with Temple members.

Thanks very much!

Temple Israel Sisterhood
Greetings from Sisterhood and the Spinning Dreidel,

We wish to acknowledge a contribution to Sisterhood from Jill Klein in honor of Alvin Stauber for the minyan of comfort he conducted for the Klein family.  A special thanks to Anita Fertig for assisting with distribution of gelt, dreidels, and candles to the Religion School students.

Mark your calendars for the Brotherhood / Sisterhood dinner and movie night, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at Temple Israel.  Cost is a mere $3.  We will be showing the movie Defiance.  It is based on a true story of four Jewish brothers living in Nazi occupied Poland who escape into the forest where they join up with Russian resistance fighters in battling the Nazis. Throughout the war they built a village inside the forest and saved the lives of more than 1200 other Jews.  Please RSVP to Rebecca Lockenbach at 877-9295 or email at Lockenr@comcast.net by Sunday, January 10th.

And Save the Date for a great Sisterhood Weekend, February 20th and 21st.  The weekend will start with a Lunch and Learn on Saturday, February 20th immediately following Shabbat Services, followed by a Brotherhood / Sisterhood Wine and Cheese Plus a Little Something Extra Special Social at 6 p.m. Saturday evening, and ending with a Meet and Greet Brunch on Sunday, February 21st at 10 a.m.  Please join us for any or all of the events.  There is no charge for any of these events.  Please RSVP by Wednesday, February 10th to Rebecca Lockenbach at 877-9295 or via email at Lockenr@comcast.net and indicate which of the events you plan to attend.

Want to volunteer, just give me a call. 

Regards to all,
Rebecca Lockenbach
Temple Israel Sisterhood

Got Talent?

We're looking for musicians, Israeli dancers and storytellers to perform at the Jewish Food & Cultural Festival on March 21.  Please contact Sheryl Grossman (1959sa@comcast.net or > 893-4253) for more information.

Caring Committee

Your Temple Israel Caring Committee offers the following to the congregation:
Calls, notes, and/or visits to congregants who are home bound, hospitalized or in rehab;

Notes to congregants offering support during family hardship, offering condolences, or offering congratulations as appropriate;

Maintaining a food pantry for congregants who need help with groceries;
Assisting with the community gathering following a funeral or minyon of comfort;
Providing a Shabbat dinner to families who have experienced a death in the family, who have recently had a new baby or have had a family member return home from the hospital;