|      |   

Upcoming Events

Feel free to contact us at sisterhood@harshalom.org

 

Z’havah Sisterhood, for our younger members, offers activities throughout the year, including some with the Men’s Club’s BOYZ Club, for younger men.

Z’havah Sisterhood’s Reading Screening and Eating meets the third Sunday evening of the month - offsite - to view a movie, review a book, have dinner or dessert and have a good time being together. For more information email: zhavahsisterhood@harshalom.org.

General Membership Meetings &  Programs: Five special programs have been planned for Sisterhood women of all ages. A brief general meeting will take place, following by these exciting programs.

2010

Feb 15, 8:00 PM – Creating With Microsoft WORD 2007. Free. Class size is limited; RSVP by Tuesday, February 9, at sisterhood@harshalom.org or call 301.299.7087 x 410. Cancelled

Mar 17, 8:00 PM – Alison Buckholtz, author, Standing By, The Making of An American Military Family.

May 17, 8:00 PM – Adorn Yourself! For information, email sisterhood@harshalom.org or call 301.299.7087 x 410.

Daytime Book Club – Phyllis Weltz, Chair  meets at Har Shalom on the first Wednesday of every month at 12:30 p.m. Come join us! Bring your dairy or pareve bag lunch and socialize with our congenial group of readers. Cake, coffee and tea are, of course, provided.

2010

   Wed, Mar 3 – The Clothes on Their Backs, Ruth Levin

   Wed, Apr 7 – Three Cups of Tea, reviewer, Marie Kramer

   Wed, May 5 – City of Thieves, reviewer, Joan Gorman

 

Rosh Hodesh  Women's Minyan  “New Rituals “ :  Ellen Kaner Bresnick & Toby B. Holtzman, co-chairs, In recent years, women have reclaimed Rosh Hodesh as a special time to gather for prayer and study. It is a time of renewal, reflection, a time for light after darkness, a time to begin again. As we begin our twelfth year of Rosh Hodesh programming, please join us monthly for our special women’s minyan and then participate in our study of New Rituals.

 

2010

Iyar – Wed, Apr 14, 8 PM, At the DMV; facilitator: Deb Schapiro

Sivan – Thu, May 13, 8:00 PM (off site), In the Delivery Room; facilitator: TBA

Tammuz – Sun, June 13, 2:00 PM, In the Garden; facilitator: TBA

 

Sisterhood Shabbat, January 23, 2010. At the 1913 meeting of the United Synagogue, Mathilde Schechter, widow of United Synagogue’s founder Solomon Schechter, contended that the movement needed a women’s contingent to perpetuate traditional Judaism in America, in the home, in the synagogue and in the community. She suggested coordinating the growing number of sisterhoods in Conservative synagogues under the banner National Women’s League of the United Synagogue. On January 23, 2010, please come and enjoy an innovative Sisterhood Shabbat service, that celebrates the success of Mathilde's vision and Women's League's 2010 theme: To plant and preserve. Services will be led by Sisterhood members and the guest speaker, Lindsey Paige Savoie, Director, Shomrei Adamah, will be speaking on promoting the connection between ecology and Jewish tradition. Continue the celebration at a very special "green" and eco-friendly Tu b'Shevat kiddush. In addition, several Sisterhood women will be inducted into the Women's League Kolot BiK'dushah society.

Sisterhood Social Action Projects - The Social Action Committee’s purpose is tikkun olam, repairing the world. One of the positive commandments under Tikkun Olam’s broad banner is bikkur holim, visiting the sick. For years, Social Action’s Bikkur Holim subcommittee (chaired by Erica Webber & Debbie Schapiro) has carried out that commandment by delivering meals to members who are ill or injured. This past year, we expanded that program to include gift baskets to postpartum mothers. If you know of a new mother in the Har Shalom family, including non-members who are part of our ECEC family, please let Erica or Deb know.)

Serving those at the other end of the age spectrum, Senior Bingo goes into its third year this year. If you’d like to help make sandwiches, call numbers, or hand out prizes, contact Senior Bingo chair Hedda Kenton.

Social Action also collects contributions that go to support the Jewish Theological Seminary through the Torah Fund campaign, which is used to buy books, furnish housing, provide scholarships, and anything else needed to help the Seminary provide the finest Jewish education possible to as many students as possible. Torah Fund chair Bena Siegel is looking to introduce more women to the Seminary and its importance to Conservative Judaism. If you haven’t made a contribution before, or if you’re looking to increase your contribution, watch for information on this year’s Torah Fund PINS campaign.

The killings, rapes, displacements, and torture of Darfuri people—80 percent of whom are women and children—continue. Work to end this tragedy relies on volunteers to visit NATO and African Union ambassadors and to carry out several projects of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Save Darfur Coalition, and other organizations. If you’d like to find out more about the situation in Darfur, go to www.savedarfur.org or www.AJWS.org. If you’d like to help, contact Yvonne Paretzky, VP Sisterhood Education, or DarfurToday@HarShalom.org.

The Earth’s environment is in serious and immediate need of repair. To help in that regard, we’re working with the Tikkun Olam committee on ways to “green” Har Shalom and working with Sisterhood Catering on ways to “green” the Har Shalom kitchen. One action we’re taking is good on several levels: it provides financial support to a cooperative of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian coffee growers in Uganda, promotes Fair Trade kosher coffee, and gives Har Shalom members and guests delicious coffee. To order coffee for your own use, please see the order form on the Tikkun Olam page on the Har Shalom website.

We started a new project last year, From Women For Women (Marjorie Klein, chair), to help the women staying at the Stepping Stones Family Shelter with donations of sanitary supplies, hand lotion, shampoo, women's deodorant and other similar items requested by the Rockville-based shelter. Donations of money and discount coupons on these items are also welcome. (Please make your checks payable to Har Shalom Sisterhood, earmarked Stepping Stones.) All non-money donations can be placed in the Toiletries Collection bin in the Gordon coat room, with coupons in labeled sealed envelopes so they don't get lost.

For questions about any of our social action projects, please call the Sisterhood phone line, 301-299-7087, Ext. 410.