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Save the Date! March 3 - 5, 2017
WRJ Fried Leadership Conference
Charleston, SC April 29 , 2017
Long Island Area Event
Wantagh, NY April 30, 2017
Executive Committee Meeting
Wantaugh, NY
April 30 - May 2, 2017
Consultation on Conscience
Washington, DC
May 21 - 29, 2017
WRJ Mission to Israel
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February is
Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month
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WRJ Trip to Israel
May 2017 For first-timers and experienced Israel travelers
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Programming Opportunity for Your Sisterhood
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Each sisterhood is entitled to a District Speaker once every two years, without expense to the sisterhood, and a speaker from WRJ in alternate years.
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The WRJ Calendar is available HERE It is free...
It can be printed...
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We want photos and highlights from your sisterhood programs!
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Using Gmail's Tab Layout? Drag this message to your Primary inbox so you won't miss any e‑blasts from WRJ Northeast District
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The next e-blast will be sent on March 7, 2017
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Message from Sharon Sobel
Northeast District Vice President
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For the third time in five months, we shall greet a New Year with hope and promise, even though the celebration of the 15th day of Shvat is not accompanied by the usual fanfare. Tu B’Shvat is known as the “New Year for the Trees,” and perhaps more than at any time in human history we cannot take their beauty and bounty for granted. The seder designed for this annual event has existed since the sixteenth century, and its readings are accompanied by an array of fruits and nuts that we are likely to find in the frozen Northeast, others that thrive in Israel, wines that get progressively darker over the course of the evening, and a reminder of the sacred connection between nature and Judaism.
Our sisterhoods are given this opportunity to bring their women together for an evening of reflection, social action, learning, and foods that are both symbolic and delicious. The text has already been crafted for us, and it is one that is replete with readings, explanations, and the specifics of which foods to eat and in what order. You can find it on the Women of Reform Judaism website www.wrj.org/tu-bishvat, and print out copies for all your participants. You could add your own readings or songs, and start your own traditions. Some sisterhoods plant seeds or order saplings, some serve an Israeli meal after preparing it together. The adaptability of the text is evident by the number of variations each sisterhood implements through the years, and the fact that our own WRJ seder has been used and enjoyed by other groups.
We have been taught that it was not until after Adam was created of the earth that plants began to sprout and their seeds to spread. God led Adam around the garden and warned him of the frailty of everything around him: “Be careful, though, that you don’t ruin or destroy my world, for if you ruin it there is no one who will repair it after you.” In 2017, this ancient admonition is more poignant than ever. Our seders have become a call to action, and one that can no longer be ignored.
Inherent in our actions is the promise of our future. The policies we advocate today will ensure a New Year for the Trees for generations to come. And in the darkest, coldest days of winter, we contemplate the hope and renewal of the spring that is only a few months away.
With best wishes for a joyous celebration,
Sharon Sobel
Wilton, Connecticut
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Fried Leadership Conference
Charleston, South Carolina
March 3 - 5, 2017
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Sharpen your sisterhood skills in targeted workshops Experience the powerful prayer of hundreds of women worshipping together on Shabbat Saturday night YES Fund dinner-dance:
Jewish bluegrass group " Nefesh Mountain"
(sponsored in part by WRJ Northeast District)
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WRJ Incubator Grant Award Program Never Worry Alone: How to Recognize if Your Loved One is at Risk and Needs Help
Sisterhood of Temple Shalom
Newton, MA
held November 17, 2016
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Our event focused on mental health issues in our community and was supported by Newton Cares. Financial support was provided by a WRJ Incubator Grant. We began by acknowledging that mental illness deserves recognition and healing, just as physical illness does. The program featured a panel discussion centered on recognizing if a loved one is at a risk, when to worry, and how to seek help. We will use the information gathered to follow up with additional programs.
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News from Our Sisterhoods
All are welcome to the following sisterhood events
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Friday, March 10, 2017
Temple Beth Torah & Temple Etz Chaim
Purim Dinner and Service
at Temple Beth Torah
2162 Washington St, Holliston, MA
Join us for Shabbat dinner at 6pm - $7 per adult and $4 per child. RSVP by February 17 to Temple Beth Torah
Followed by co-led services at 7:30pm
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Saturday, March 11, 2017
Temple Beth Torah & Temple Etz Chaim
Oh What a Spiel! - The Jersey Boys Megillah
at First Universalist Society of Franklin
262 Chestnut St, Franklin, MA
6pm Jersey Boys Purim Spiel
For more information on both of these Events, check out the Events section of our District Facebook page HERE
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Send your event pictures, or advertise open sisterhood events here.
Send all information to wrjneblast@gmail.com by the last Tuesday of the month to be included in the next month's eblast or on our Facebook page.
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Consultation on Conscience
April 30 - May 2, 2017
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| | Join the WRJ Delegation at the RAC’s biennial Consultation on Conscience in Washington, DC. This year the Consultation will feature special WRJ program opportunities.
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In honor or Presidents' Day, we think about a few Jewish firsts when it comes to the Presidency.
THOMAS JEFFERSON was the fist President to appoint a Jew to a Federal post. In 1801 he named Reuben Etting of Baltimore as US Marshall for Maryland.
MARTIN VAN BUREN was the first President to order an American consul to intervene on behalf of Jews abroad in 1840.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN was the first President to make it possible for rabbis to serve as military chaplains by signing a 1862 Act of Congress.
RUTHERFORD HAYS was the first President to designate a Jewish ambassador for the stated purpose of fighting anti-Semitism in 1870,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT was the first President to appoint a Jew to a presidential cabinet in 1906.
WOODROW WILSON was the first President to nominate a Jew to the United States Supreme Court.
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The Board of the Northeast District
of Women of Reform Judaism
wishes everyone
a warm Tu B'Shvat
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