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News from the Northeast
August 2, 2022
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This eblast is sent from northeast@wrj.org.
Please add this address to your Contacts so you won't miss our news.
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In This Issue (These links may not work on all devices)
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Message from Trina Novak
Immediate Past President of WRJ Northeast District
Here we are in the middle of summer. Children are involved in summer activities and camp. We schedule beach time and haul gallons of sunscreen, beach umbrellas, chairs, and towels to our favorite spot. Life is a bit more relaxed since the heat often reminds us that swimming may be a preferred activity to running.
Given that the summer months seem to flit by, we try to hold on to the slower pace. Those who plan sisterhood and district events have already set our calendars for the coming season. Perhaps we have met with our sisters outdoors to enjoy cocktails or a barbecue. The workload for sisterhood leaders is a bit lighter, giving us the opportunity to sit back and reflect. Did we keep our women connected through intellectual, educational, spiritual, or social justice activities? How can we improve for the coming year?
It is no coincidence that the Hebrew calendar will enter the month of Elul at the end of August. Elul is a time to come closer to God, to strengthen the connection with the Divine, and to engage in personal reflection. Where have I succeeded in my personal relationships and goals? Where have I missed the mark? How can I improve as an individual?
Parashah R'eih is the Torah portion that is read as we enter the month of Elul. A key section of this parashah reads:
See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced. [Deut. 11:26-28]
We are asked to look at all possibilities and to choose the path of blessing, of improving ourselves and improving the lives of others.
If you are seeking a way to enhance your women’s group and its programming, please consider reaching out to the Northeast District leadership for support and inspiration. The Northeast District website can direct you to opportunities to engage with women from the district as well as opportunities to take action in areas that concern all of us in WRJ. You can also follow the Northeast District on Yammer, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
If being involved in advocacy opportunities sings to your soul, please sign up to receive Advocacy Matters from WRJ as well as the weekly newsletter, WRJ Today. WRJ’s new advocacy initiative, WRJ Says Stop: an Initiative against Sexual Harassment and Assault will present its first webinar on September 20, so mark your calendar and save the date.
Finally, if you would like to become more involved in district leadership, please apply for a position on the Northeast District Executive Committee. Information about this opportunity can be found on our Nominations webpage. Applications are due by September 16.
I feel blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful women who kvell with me in times of joy and hold me up in times of sorrow. I hope that connection with sisterhood and district has brought the same blessing to you. If so, the warmth of the summer months will continue for you all year long.
Trina Novak
Temple Beth Sholom, Needham, MA
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| Upcoming Events ~ All events are virtual unless otherwise noted ~
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Wednesday, August 3, 10, and 17, 3:30 p.m.
Working Group Training Series: Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (REDI) This series will equip participants with tools to establish action plans focused on creating an inclusive community.
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Thursday, August 4 and 11, 8:00 p.m.
Jewish Women's Archive Book Club Join us on the following evenings to hear two authors speak about their books.
- On August 4, Courtney Zoffness, author of Split Milk: Memoirs, will discuss what we inherit from past generations and what we pass on to our children.
- On August 11, Sam Cohen, author of Sarahland, will discuss new ways to love the planet, those inhabiting it, and new possibilities for life.
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Wednesday, August 10, 7:00 p.m.
Lecture: Jews and Whiteness; Join us as we explore the contentious history and sociology of the Jews and their racial definition. The exploration will include insights from debates in the 1960s over Jewish whiteness.
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August 12-14 Women's Convention in
Houston, TX WRJ is partnering with @WomensMarch, @BlackFeministFuture, Planned Parenthood Action Fund @ppact, @NationalNOW, National Women’s Law Center, and @weareUltraViolet for the Women’s Convention.
Join us as we fight back against the tsunami of right-wing extremism by working together.
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Sunday, August 14, 4:00 p.m.
Film and Discussion: A New Look at the Lives of Oskar and Emile Schindler
At your convenience, between August 12-15 watch The Accidental Hero, a BBC film, on your home device. On August 14, tune into the program that will include distinguished panelists talking about the Schindlers and what they did to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Links to the film and the discussion will be emailed to those who register.
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On View Through Sunday, August 14
To Build a New Home: Celebrating
a Jewish Wedding
If you have ever been to a Jewish wedding, there are some things that you come to expect such as the dramatic breaking of a glass at the conclusion of the ceremony. Many assumptions about the way Jewish weddings have always been done are not true.
The exhibit about Jewish weddings is on view at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library located at 3080 Broadway, New York, NY.
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Tuesday, August 16, 7:30 p.m.
Continuing the Fight for Abortion Access
Join WRJ in a webinar designed to provide helpful resources to educate your sisterhoods and women’s groups about abortion access and other fundamental rights and how to take action now. The webinar will include an up-to-the-minute briefing from Elizabeth Nash from the Guttmacher Institute.
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Tuesday, August 23, 8:00 p.m.
Film, Fiction, and Fine Wine: i named my dog puskin Join us as Margarita Gokun Silver discusses her memoir. The memoir is a collection of notes on how a Soviet girl became an American woman.
When she arrived in the U.S., Margarita had a clearly defined objective -- become fully American as soon as possible and leave her Soviet past behind. But she soon learned that finding her new voice was harder than escaping the Soviet secret police.
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Wednesday, August 24, 7:30 p.m.
Northeast District Summer Schmooze
We are delighted to announce that Marilyn Shebshaievitz will serve the remainder of this term as First Vice President and Yvette Bergman will serve the remainder of this term as Vice President.
If you would like to meet with them and other members of the board and catch up with news about our upcoming convention, our sisterhoods, special projects, and how everyone is doing, please Zoom in for a late-summer schmooze. There's no agenda, no urgent business, no reason to get dressed up. Just put on your sisterhood cap and come!
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NEW DATE: Thursday, September 1, 7:30 p.m.
Growing Fundraising: Increasing Collaboration and Engagement Fundraising campaigns reach ambitious goals when board leadership, volunteers, and staff work together. The efforts of many produce the most powerful results. Join us for a conversation - with practical tips - on growing collaborative fundraising. Learn how you can partner with WRJ staff to engage board members, volunteers, and others in your community, and become a greater advocate for WRJ.
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| Executive Committee Nominations
for WRJ Northeast District Incredible as it is, we are heading into August! This means that applications for positions on the 2023-2026 Northeast District Executive Committee are due in seven weeks. Please set aside some time to fill out and submit your application.
The job descriptions can be found HERE. The application can be found HERE. The deadline is Friday, September 16, 2022. Questions? Contact Trina Novak, Nominating Committee Chair, at 617-549-2023 or kermittf8@gmail.com.
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Holiday Bake Sale to Benefit the Yes Fund just in time for Rosh Hashanah!
Starting August 30, you can order sweets for your holiday table.
The Northeast District is teaming up with Sweet Seidner’s Bake Shop to offer deliciously moist honey cakes, apple cakes, and other items.
A portion of all sales will go to the YES Fund.
Sweet Seidner’s specializes in homemade treats that are
♥ made from wholesome ingredients
♥ baked from scratch
♥ certified kosher
♥ shipped to you within 24 hours of coming out of the oven
Orders will be sent priority mail to the U.S. and Canada.
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Northeast District Fund Make a gift to WRJ Northeast District Fund (NDF) to say thank you, happy birthday, mazel tov, or to send get well wishes or condolences to your family members and friends. An acknowledgment will be emailed to each person whose email address is provided.
The NDF enables the Northeast District to support our sisterhoods, women’s groups, and individual members.
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Selected Blogs From the RAC to Rabbinical School: A WRJ YES Fund Story In her blog, Ally Karpel, a second-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Theology in Los Angelos, writes about the impact the YES Fund has had on her life.
Email Marketing Tips for Sisterhoods
With the summer ending and fall right around the corner, many sisterhoods will begin planning 2022-23 activities and programs for their members. Elisa Heisman has some easy tips for creating emails and other modes of communication that will catch your sisterhood members' attention.
How My Mental Health Helped Me to Connect to Judaism In her blog, Michaela Fryman writes that one of her rabbi's sermons has stayed with her the longest. It was in that sermon in which the rabbi said that "When you're diagnosed with cancer, people bring you lasagna. When you are diagnosed with mental illness, no one brings you lasagna."Those words caused Michaela to question why she was putting pressure on herself to hide her mental illness.
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Northeast District Sisters Know How to Enjoy
Warm Summer Days
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| Sisters Singing and Wearing Socks
at the June Shabbaton in Albany
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| Sisters Meeting for Golf and Lunch in July in Boston
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News from WRJ Reproductive Health and Rights
WRJ is a leading advocate for reproductive rights and health and continues to oppose state and federal restrictions that limit access to birth control and safe abortion services.
The following links provide information on what you can do to ensure the reproductive rights and health of all women.
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A New Advocacy Initiative: WRJ Says STOP
Do you belong to a "Hug and Kiss" congregation? In some communities, the culture is to greet each other with big hugs, often accompanied by a kiss. These actions are fine if the two people engaging with one another are in consensual agreement. What happens when someone you are only acquainted with or someone you barely know decides that because of the community culture, they may greet you in an intimate way without consent? What happens when community cultural behaviors cross the line?
The first of four webinars on this topic will take place on September 20. Stay tuned for more details.
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Sisterhood Leadership Webinar
Sisterhood Presidents and guests are invited to join us for a two-part series covering being a STAR (Strategic, Team Building, Artful Leadership, and Resources) President. Session one is about Strategic Planning & Team Building and includes covering the need to plan, working in line with the group’s mission and vision, enlisting help, flexibility, team building, running productive meetings, time management, controlling the discussion, and giving everyone a voice.
The first session will be offered on Tuesday, August 30, at 8:00 pm. Save the date for Session 2 on November 1.
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WRJ North America Seeking New Board Members
If you are a member of WRJ who wants to provide input on the direction of social justice initiatives for the Reform Movement, participate in the future of Reform and Progressive Judaism, contribute your expertise to WRJ, and connect and build community with diverse women across North America, then being a WRJ North America Board is for you.
Applications are due on Thursday, September 15.
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Area Director Training
WRJ Member Services will be providing training opportunities. The training will focus on the ways to present the value of WRJ to members as well as provide a space to share information and issues.
Additional information is available on the Area Director page of Yammer. If you are not already registered for YAMMER, call Heather Lorgeree in the WRJ office and she can help you.
The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 21, at 8:00 pm.
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Or Ami Award Applications
Has your sisterhood led an incredible program or project that deserves recognition? For the past 50 years, WRJ Or Ami's "Light of My People" Awards celebrate exemplary social justice, community service, and educational programming that can serve as a model for other WRJ Districts and sisterhoods.
Details about this award can be found on the WRJ website. Applications for the 2023 Or Ami Awards are open now through September 23, 2023.
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| If this email is clipped, click "View Entire Message" at the end of the eblast to ensure that you have not missed any important updates and information.
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Hebrew Crash Course These one-hour zoom classes are offered FREE and are in partnership with WRJ, Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus, Ohio, and the National Jewish Outreach Project. Past students are encouraged to join again for a refresher, registration is required.
Register here.Hebrew 2: July 13 - August 10 (5 sessions) - Already know the Hebrew aleph-bet? Enhance your reading skills while learning basic Hebrew prayer vocabulary, grammar, and phrases as we study familiar Hebrew prayers like the Shabbat blessings and V’ahvata.
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) in Massachusetts and New York
RAC-MA and RAC-NY continue to meet and plan social action lobbying efforts on the state and federal levels in 2022 and beyond.
The Helen Diller Family Foundation 2023 Teen Tikkim Olam Awards Each year the Helen Diller Family Foundation awards up to $36,000 each for up to 15 teen leaders in recognition for their work to repair the world.
Do you know a teen leader in your community? Nominations and applications for the 2023 Tikkun Olam Awards will open in August. Read about eligibility and criteria, follow the awards on social media, and subscribe to the newsletter to learn more and stay updated.
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Tell Congress to Ban Assault Weapons and Keep Our Communities Safe
Assault weapons are weapons of war designed to murder or maim as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Las Vegas, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, and the Tree of Life shooting all involved assault weapons. Assault weapons in mass shootings increase the number of fatalities and injuries.
From 1994 to 2004, when the U.S. had an assault weapons ban, 89 people died in 12 mass shootings. From 2004 to 2014 – the decade after the ban expired – more than 300 people were shot and killed in 34 mass shootings. The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on H.R. 1808, Assault Weapons Ban, which would prohibit semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.
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Urge Congress to Support Environmental Justice for All
For decades, environmental justice leaders have advocated for equal protection from environmental hazards, equal access to environmental benefits, and meaningful involvement in environmental decision-making processes.
The Environmental Justice for All Act reflects one of the environmental justice movement’s core principles: all communities should have a say in decisions that affect them directly. The bill is the product of an inclusive, community-driven process and would create new legal tools to challenge environmental racism, integrate environmental justice into Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act permitting decisions, strengthen environmental justice considerations throughout the entire executive branch, and invest in historically fossil fuel-dependent communities.
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Urge Your State Representatives to Protect Abortion Rights
The Supreme Court’s decision in overturning Roe v. Wade means 26 states are likely to ban or severely restrict abortion, including states with laws that have already gone into effect. Your state legislature has the power to protect abortion access through legislation, ballot initiatives, and more. Urge your Governor and State legislators to protect and expand abortion rights.
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A Selection of U.S. Federal Initiatives It is easy to make your voice heard. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) has created a series of forms that you can use to contact your legislators in the U.S. Congress. Please support these important initiatives to safeguard voting rights, ending pay discrimination, and protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
You can display each RAC form by clicking its image below.
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Support the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
| |  | Support Refugee Resettlement
| |  | Protect LGBTQ+ People From Discrimination
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| Calendar and Other Resources
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| Calendar August is International Peace Month
August 7 Tisha B'Av
August 24 Northeast District Summer Smooze
August 26 Women's Equality Day
August 30 First Sisterhood Leadership webinar
August 30 District bake sale begins
September 5 Labor Day/Labour Day
Save the Date September 15 WRJ North American Board of Directors applications due
September 16 Northeast District Executive Committee applications due
September 21 WRJ Area Director training
September 23 Or Ami applications due
October 30 Northeast Board of Directors meeting
November 1 Second Sisterhood Leadership webinar
March 23-26, 2023 Northeast District Convention
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| New sisterhood presidents and women's group leaders! Please complete the LEADERSHIP INFORMATION FORM so that we can update our records and keep you informed with news, events, advocacy alerts, and more
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| Tools & Resources Northeast Resources
WRJ Resources
WRJ Programs
Other Resources
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| | Request an Online Speaker
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Your sisterhood is entitled to a district speaker without expense to your sisterhood
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| Did You Know? Since 1993, WRJ has published five books in the Covenant series. Each book contains prayers, poems, and meditations written by members of sisterhoods in North America. The contents of these books are useful as opening or closing prayers at local sisterhood meetings, thoughts expressed during WRJ NE meetings and conventions, for your personal mediations, or anytime you are searching for words that have meaning.
William Wordsworth said "poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." The poem below, published in the most recently Covenant series, Covenant of the Generations, is one example of the meaningful content of the Covenant books and poetry.
The Feeling of Sisterhood
Like Miriam and her sisters dancing
with singular intent
Or Dinah and her friends sharing stories
in the red tent
Like our foresisters before us they
crossed the Red Sea
That's the feeling of Sisterhood, the power of unity.
Like Bella Abzug and her comrades
In their unique, New York fashion
Serving the common good
United in passion
Or Golda Meir whose vision
Propelled an entire society
That's the feeling of Sisterhood,
The magic of solidarity.
Then there's the sisters you know, who you meet everyday
Not larger than life, but giving each in her way
Serving with purpose, enhancing the community
That's the feeling of Sisterhood, the blessing of camaraderie.
Sisterhood --
It's the feeling you get
When you know you belong
And the rush of fulfillment
When we're 65,00 strong
And the satisfaction of being part of a great social good
That's the joy of WRJ, the chemistry of Sisterhood.
~Written by Ilene Lanin-Kettering of Beth Tikvak Congregation in Hoffman Estates, IL
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On Labor/Labour Day, WRJ NE honors the social and economic achievements of the workers in the U.S. and Canada
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The next eblast will be sent on Tuesday, September 6.
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