THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONVOKES: |
Articles in Spanish without translation: (see:
SETIEMBRE 2002)
Welcome to the seventh month of the Jewish calendar - Tishrei. “But wait!” you say, “How can it be the seventh month of the Jewish year if we have just celebrated Rosh Hashanah - the head of the year - the Jewish New Year???” Great question! We’ll come back to that …
So here we are in a month filled with holidays. 1 Tishrei is Rosh Hashanah. On the 10th of Tishrei, we celebrate Yom Kippur. 15 Tishrei begins the holiday of Sukkot and then one week later, we dance with the Torah on Simchat Torah. What do all of these holidays have in common? They all honor cycles.
Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of a new year, reminds us of the cycle of the calendar. And it teaches us of the importance of time. Time is precious. We must use it wisely.
Yom Kippur is a time for us to look back over the year and evaluate what we’ve accomplished. We think of the past year’s actions and make an effort to correct our mistakes. We do teshuvah. What does this Hebrew word mean? It has come to refer to making right our wrongs. But the Hebrew word literally means “to return.” To return to what? To return to ourselves, to return to God, to turn to face the people we’ve hurt. So the cycle of teshuvah is an important one for us.
Soon, we will be celebrating Sukkot. This harvest holiday honors the cycle of the seasons. We are thankful for the rain and sun which help our crops grow. We are thankful for the ability to grow food on the earth, and for the changing of the seasons each year. We enjoy sharing meals with friends in the sukkah during the week of Sukkot.
Near the end of the month of Tishrei, we celebrate Simchat Torah. We parade with the Torah scrolls and we dance and rejoice as a community. Then we read the last words in our Torah. And immediately, we reroll the Torah to the beginning and read the first words of Bereshit, the story of Creation. By doing this, we create an unending cycle of Torah. Just as our year, our souls, our fields are renewed, so is our dedication to learning and studying Torah in our community.
Interestingly, the last word of the Torah is Yisrael. The Torah ends with the letter lamed. The first word of the Torah is bereshit - meaning “in the beginning.” The Torah begins with the letter bet. So, when we end and then begin our Torah reading again on Simchat Torah, creating a loop of Torah, the last letter and the first letter connect to form the word lev, “heart.”
What do we learn from the month of Tishrei? Many things! It is a month of renewal. It is a month of cycles and circles. It is a month when we are thankful. It is a month of Jewish celebration with lev, the heart, at the center of everything we do.
So - have you thought about the question I asked earlier… Why would this month of Jewish beginnings and renewals be the seventh month of our calendar? Nobody knows for sure. But the Rabbis teach that this month filled with festivals and days of rest and celebration is like the seventh day of the week - like Shabbat. After six days of creating, God rested. The seventh month mirrors the seventh day of the week. It is a particularly holy time and it is appropriate that our High Holy Days, our days of awe and reflection, should come at this time of year.
May the month of Tishrei be a fulfilling one for us all. May our soul searching enable us to make important choices about how to live as individuals, and as a community. And may we always remember that the center of our Torah, the basis of our community, is lev, heart.
Shanah tovah u´metukah! A happy, healthy, sweet and peaceful 5763!
Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman
When I look back on this last year, I find a lot of satisfaction and memories of community life in B’nei Israel. This congregational unit has managed to be an option for the Jews of Costa Rica, and because of the effort and dedication of its members, has transcended our borders. It’s even more amazing to review the history of our community and observe its evolution, its growth, and its strengthening. We have accomplished many goals, and we know that in the future our common objectives will keep coming true.
At this time, however, we need you. We are making a call on each and every member to make a donation, in the measure of his/her possibilities, for the Rabbi Fund. Our goal is to have a full-time Rabbi starting June 2003, which is the reason why several activities have been taking place, in order to raise enough money for the fund. Activities such as raffles, dinners at different houses (currently in progress), special donations, etc. - activities that bring us all together even more.
A year ends and another begins. Rosh Hashannah 5763. Time for redemption and renovation. The shofar is blown by Jews all over the world, to remember and reflect upon the triumphs and tragedies of the past year. This blast is for the World, to value our life and search deeply, to understand our existence and the world around us. At this moment of introspection, we pray for a sweet new year, symbolizing it with the honey with which we bathe our apples and carrots. It’s the moment for joining together and leaving behind any difference. It’s the moment when we pray to be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Yom Kippur, the highest solemnity, where our people, through fasting, prayer, and silent meditation, search for forgiveness from those we have offended, and ask our God for His mercy. This spirit of reconciliation and unconditional love to God, has been the avis of our people throughout the generations. It teaches us not only to face our weaknesses or errors, but also to love and forgive. At this point we make a pause along the way to fix our relationships and renew ourselves, when we unite even more to pray and work together. It is when we promote tolerance and understanding, when we share the blessings to make peace a reality and not just a dream.
To each and every one of the members and friends of B’nei Israel, on behalf of my family and myself, we wish you a very happy and sweet New Year.
Eduardo Keibel
(Translated by Tamara Baum)
Dear assorted friends and loved ones,
We are thrilled and overjoyed to announce the birth of our son this afternoon at 1:58 p.m. 7 lbs 6.2 oz, 20 in. Nicole is resting well and baby is a delight. Completely adorable.
What a new year's gift.
Love,
Nicole and Michael
Dear Friends around the World,
As we approach the New Year, I want to thank you for your interest and support of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
These are critical times for the Jewish people. The Arab world is in complete denial. Instead of criticizing Yassir Arafat for squandering every opportunity for peace and for leaving a legacy of violence for his people, they applaud him and use every opportunity to criticize the United States and the West. They repeat the false mantra of occupation, refusing to recognize the fact that had Arafat accepted former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offer, they would have had a Palestinian State. Tragically the Arab world continues to do what Abba Eban once called, "Never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Israel continues to be a favorite international target... Desmond Tutu is leading a campaign to try to get universities to divest from Israel... CNN founder Ted Turner, in a recent interview, portrayed his soft spot for suicide bombers, talking about their poverty and lack of hope.
This past year, antisemitism in Europe reached the highest level since World War II. In Denmark an extremist Islamic group published a hit list of prominent Jews which includes former Danish Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior... The European Union refuses to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization because they claim that Hamas also runs hospitals and social welfare institutions, failing to recognize that every criminal organization can claim to be doing that, including the SS and the Gestapo during WWII... The Europeans are quick to call for the establishment of fact-finding missions when Israel goes into the territories in search of suicide bombers, but they have never launched a fact-finding mission to determine whether the Palestinian Authority knows the whereabouts of the terrorist leaders and why they have failed to apprehend them.
That same blind spot also affects the United Nations and its agencies. Not once have they mustered the courage to condemn by name the terrorist organizations who have brought this bloodshed to the Middle East -- they will never do so for fear of offending the fifty nation Moslem voting bloc in the U.N General Assembly... The media loves publishing articles on Jewish power. When was the last time they did an article about Moslem power paralyzing the United Nations and its agencies? To combat the lies and misconceptions about Israel, the Center is distributing its Urgent Action Alert so that you can also help fight the growing trend of Israel bashing throughout the world.
This is why we need your help more than ever before. Everyday in Europe, in the Middle East, and in North America, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is out there fending off antisemites and bigots and defending the State of Israel in its hour of need. As we begin this New Year, stand with us to continue our important work by sending in a contribution. It is much needed and will be much appreciated.
Wishing you and your loved ones, a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year wherever you may be!
Rabbi Marvin Hier
Dean and Founder
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Author Unknown - Submitted by Bill Fischer
I am not the least afraid to go any place, by bus or to a mall. I didn't change or stop doing ANYthing I used to do before this mess began! People tend to forget that twice the casualties from terror get killed on the roads! More people still die from heart attack, cancer, and other things; they just don't show them on TV.
Don't misunderstand me, there is a war going on, it's not pleasant, but let’s face it. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER!!!! It's only TV and media that make people think it's the end of the world coming.
Only 60 years ago!! They were leading Jews to their death like sheep to the slaughter!
No country, no army. 55 years ago!!
Seven Arab countries declared war on the small Jewish state, only a few hours old!! We were then 650,000 Jews! Against the rest of the Arab world! No IDF, no mighty air force, just tough people with nowhere to go (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, attacked all at once).
The country the U.N. "gave us" was 65 % desert. The country started from scratch! 35 years ago!! We fought the three strongest armies in the Middle East, and wiped them out in six days. We fought against different coalitions of Arab countries, with modern armies, and masses of Russian soviet weapons, and still won!!!
We have today a country, and an army, and a strong air force, and hi-tech economy, exporting millions, Intel-Microsoft-IBM develop their stuff here, our doctors win world prizes for medical developments, we made the desert flourish, selling oranges and vegetables to the world.
Israel has sent its own satellite!! In space (three satellites all together!!), we sit proudly with the U.S. (250 million people), Russia (200 million people!), China (1.1 billion), the Europeans -- France-England-Germany (350 million), as the only countries in the world to shoot something into space!!
Israel is today in the world nuclear power family with U.S, Russia, China, India, France, and England. (We don't admit it, but every one knows...) To think that only 60 years ago, we were led, shameful, with no hope, to our death!!
We crawled out of the burning ashes of Europe, we won our wars here with less than nothing in our hands, we built an "empire" out of nothing. Who the hell is Mr. Arafat to make me scared? Terrified? You make me laugh!
Let's not forget Passover and what the story is all about. We overcame Pharaoh, we overcame the Greeks, the Romans, the inquisition in Spain, we overcame the pogroms in Russia, we overcame Hitler, the Germans, the Holocaust, we overcame seven other Arab countries at once, we overcame Saddam. Take it easy, folks, we will overcome these ones, too.
No matter at what part of human history you try! to think of, for us, the Jewish people, our situation has never been better!!! So let's lift our heads high, and remember: any nation or culture that tried to mess around with us was destroyed to the ground - while we kept going!!! Egypt? Anyone knows where their empire disappeared to? The Greeks? Alexander of Macedonia? The Romans? Anyone today speaks Latin? The Third Reich? Anyone heard any news about it lately?
And look at us, the nation from the Bible, from slavery in Egypt we are still here, speaking the same language!! Right here, right now. The Arabs don't know it yet, but they will learn there is one God. As long as we keep our identity, we are eternal.
So, sorry for not worrying, bitching, crying, or being scared, things are going o.k. here. They surely can go better, but still, don't fall for the media junk, they won't tell you that there are festivals going on, people keep on living, going out, seeing friends. Yes, our morale is low, so what? It's only because we weep for our dead while they enjoy the blood (and this is the same reason why, we will win, after all).
You can forward this e-mail (if you choose) to the whole of the Jewish community, and the people of the world. They are part of our strength and it might help some of them to keep their heads up high. Tell them there is nothing to worry about. Tell them to think BIG and to see the whole picture.
"See you next year in Jerusalem."
by Hilda ten Brink
"I have a desire to see the world." With these words Roberta Haynes defines her quest for a life, full of excitement and involvement, that she wants. Roberta remembers that when she was young, she had a friend whose mother and grandmother had been born in the same house where they lived. This was very different for Roberta who has no strong roots because when she was a little girl she moved from her native Texas to Canada, and then on to California. As her father made more money, they moved from place to place, from house to house. And this is exactly what Roberta did with her son Jonathan. They moved around quite a bit. For Roberta, life is an adventure; she has no need for roots. All she needs is to have friends she loves and who love her.
Her life has been full of adventures. Being a beautiful woman and an expressive one helped her with an acting career that placed her opposite Gary Cooper in a romantic movie “Return to Paradise.” But acting was not creatively satisfying for Roberta. She wanted to produce movies, though this was a male oriented activity in those days. The Japanese Samurai movies gave Roberta the idea of turning them into Western movies. She presented the idea to 20th Century Fox executives; after watching these Japanese movies, the executives commented that the action took place with swords. Could you visualize them using guns? Roberta’s co-producer asked. The answer, “No,” shelved a project that later on was reintroduced as spaghetti Western that gave fame to actors like Clint Eastwood in “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Magnificent Seven.”
Roberta worked as a dialog coach in Italy but kept trying to promote her production ideas with people like Marcelo Mastroniani. Desperate for work and money and having to take care of Jonathan, she came back to California where a friend got her a job in production. There she was in contact with writers whose creativity she admired. Eventually she became Vice President at 20th Century Fox Television where she involved in the production of movies and mini series for TV. It was a time when her associates worked for the love of what they were doing and not necessarily for the money. But the times changed, a new generation came over and the fact that Roberta was over 50 years of age didn’t help. She left Hollywood and, lucky for us, she moved to Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica she lived longer than in any other place in the world, eleven years. She became involved in the life of B’nei Israel shortly after she went to a Shabbat service at the home of Marvin Sossin, our Synagogue then. Roberta worked in the Treasury for many years and was a wonderful dues collector. She was the inspiring force behind our Cachivaches (Garage) Sales. A fashion show “Down Memory Lane” and a Thai and an Italian Dinners were also Roberta’s efforts to raise funds for our Congregation.
I had the fortune of working with Roberta in the production of memorable programs. She organized for us a night of readings from the book “The Rescuers” in which, by candle lights, we told stories of gentiles that saved Jews during WWII. She then produced “Life in the Shtetl” a series of poems, songs and vignettes that traced the journey of Jews from Poland to America. We will always remember Gonzalo Vega’s songs from Fiddler on the Roof and Marvin and his grandson Jason’s rendition of Tumbalalaika that night. We presented “Life in the Shtetl” in Panama for the Conference of the UJCL in 2000 and Roberta involved delegates of various countries in performing the program for a memorable event. For the Union’s Conference here in San Jose, in 2001, Roberta produced a program of Jewish Music through the years with Cheryle Tacher from Puerto Rico and our Gonzalo Vega singing beautiful songs and involving local talents like David and Amanda Sossin, Deborah Singer, Mario Podcaminsky, and David ten Brink.
A few years ago, Roberta decided that it was time to move again and Florida won her over. Life for her was easier there. She now spends her time visiting friends all over the world, hoping to meet the right guy and continuing with her many interests in life. She will soon begin a pastel and watercolor painting class and would like to visit Vietnam and go every year to her beloved Italy. Asked about what she would like to have in life, her answer is quick. “A grandchild.”
Through moving, through her many jobs, through a full life, Roberta has remained a warm, loving person that likes to give of herself to the causes she believes in. She left Costa Rica but she never left B’nei Israel. Perhaps here with us, she established little roots. We are blessed for that.
Article written by Jody Bonilla for The Tico Times
Yom Kippur means “Days of Atonement” and refers to the annual Jewish observance of fasting, prayer, and repentance. Most Jews consider this day the holiest in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur dates from biblical times, and is mentioned in three separate passages in the Torah, the five books of Moses. The Jewish people are told that “the Day of Atonement shall be a sacred occasion for you.” "You shall practice self denial..." That commandment became the basis of Yom Kipur as we know it today. Rabbis and many Jews wear white on Yom Kippur. White is a symbol of purity, and, since Yom Kipur is a day when we cleanse ourselves of sin, the color is appropriate. On this day we read the Book of Jonah, which is fitting as it is the story of an entire society (the people of Nineveh) that is spared from destruction as a result of true repentance. It is also significant that the citizens of Nineveh are not Jewish. We thus learn that God’s mercy and compassion extend to all peoples. During the time of Yom Kippur it is imperative that we make peace between one another. God can forgive the sins against God, but only man can forgive the wrongs we have committed against each other.
The stirring sound of the shofar, the ram’s horn, as Yom Kippur ends has several meanings. One says that the shofar signals the triumph over our sins for another year and heralds the possible coming of the Messiah. Another reason is that the practice recalls the giving of the Torah at Sinai, when the shofar was blown. It is a very meaningful and solemn moment regarded as unique and very special to the Jewish people. God listens to our pleas for forgiveness during the time between the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. The moment of the shofar blasts symbolize the closing of the gates of heaven, when God has made the decisions as to whom will be written in the Book of Life for another year. We wish each other Gemar Chatimah Tovah, “may you finally be sealed for good” - a good, healthy, happy year.
The students of the Jennifer Sossin School for Jewish Education, of B’nei Israel Congregation, have written the following comments, memories, and ideas of Yom Kippur.
By Jody Bonilla
On August 21st, 2002, Marvin Sossin and his family celebrated a special memorial service with the students of our school to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Jennifer’s death. They shared memories, photographs and writings. David Sossin spoke of his sister, and Michelle read a special Kaddish writing by Jennifer, the aunt she never knew. Twenty years ago, while in Miami, Jennifer was killed in an automobile accident. She was a young woman dedicated to her Judaism: “She really loved Hebrew school and synagogue”, David shared. The students looked at the photographs, listened to the words, and stood and said Kaddish together with Marvin, Michael, Rosario, David, Amanda, Ellen, and Michelle. We were all proud to be part of their family.
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Hilda ten Brink, Clara Zomer and the students of the Mitzvá class of the Jennifer Sossin School for Jewish Education are carrying out a three-step program to organize the historical archives of B’nei Israel.
The first stage will be the rescuing of the Bar and Bat Mitzvá history of the congregation. The students will possibly be able to rescue the history of other important events in the lives of the families that they will be interviewing. We hope to be able to get the names in English, Spanish and Hebrew of each B’nei Mitzvá along with the date they were called to the Torah, the parasha, and hopefully a photograph. This first stage will be carried out between the 1st of September and the 1st of December.
The second stage will be the recording of all religious events that have taken place in Congregation B’nei Israel up to the 1st of December. These will include Brit Mila, baby namings, B;nei Mitzvá, Conversión, Marriages, Divorces and death certificates.
The third stage will be the creation of a diary, a special book, which will list each religious event that has been carried out. In a separate file, copies of all certificate given out will be established. This will be carried out as of the 1st of December.
Please open your family to the questions of the Mitzvá students. The more you can share, the better will be our archives, and our memories will be recorded for future generations.
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Submitted by Armando Flasterstein
Five Jews changed the way to see the world:
Moses said: "The law is all."
Jesus said: "Love is all."
Marx said: "Money is all."
Freud said: "All is in the head."
And finally Einstein said: "ALL is relative."
The members of Congregation B’nei Israel wish to express |
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Our most warm condolences to Magaly y Abraham Waltersdorfer, |
Congregation B'nei Israel extends a warm welcome to our new members:
Our most joyful Mazel Tov to Rabbi Michael and Nicole Holzman, on the birth of their first baby boy. May he grow up to be a wise, old, gentle, and learned Jewish man.
Mazel Tov to Yaco Baum, our last Bar Mitzvah, and to all his family. We are sure that his parents, Abraham and Inés, and all his family, feel very proud of Yaco. We have a new and wonderful adult in our Congregation!
DATES TO REMEMBER:
| FESTIVITY | DATE - TIME | PLACE |
|---|---|---|
| SLICHOT | Saturday, August 31 11:00 p.m. |
Synagogue |
| EREV ROSH HASHANNAH Service: Dinner: |
Friday, September 6 6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. |
Synagogue Hotel San José Palacio |
| ROSH HASHANNAH | Saturday, September 7 10:00 a.m. |
Synagogue |
| TASHLICH | Saturday, September 7 5:00 p.m. |
ten Brink home |
| ROSH HASHANNAH | Sunday, September 8 10:00 a.m. |
Synagogue |
| SHABBAT SHUVAH | Friday, September 13 8:00 p.m. |
Synagogue |
| SHABBAT SHUVAH | Saturday, September 14 10:00 a.m. |
Synagogue |
| KOL NIDREI EREV YOM KIPPUR |
Sunday, September 15 6:00 p.m. |
Synagogue |
| YOM KIPPUR | Monday, September 16 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. |
Synagogue |
| EREV SUKKOT Building of the Sukkah: Service: |
Friday, September 20 4:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. |
ten Brink home |
| SIMCHAT TORAH | Friday, September 27 6:00 p.m. |
Synagogue |
