Our Latest Newsletter - Westchester Community for Humanistic

NOVEMBER, 2014
Sat.Nov. 15, 2:30PM
Bennett Muraskin
“Origin and Meaning of
Askenazi Names”
Sat.Nov. 22, 10:15 AM
Jewish History Buffs At the home of :
Charlotte Schacter 668-4293
4 Park Lane, Apt.
Mt. Vernon PLEASE RSVP
charschachter@gmail.com
We will continue discussing “My
Promised Land” Our discussions
on Israel have been heated and
exciting. Please come and join us.
FOR THIS MONTH’S MEETING
ARRANGE TO CARPOOLP ARKING IS DIFFICULT.
VOLUME 11, # 3
When Did You Get Your Family
Name?
Ashkenazic Jews were among the last
Europeans to take family names.
Some German-speaking Jews took
last names as early as the 17th
century, but the overwhelming
majority of Jews lived in Eastern
Europe and did not take last names
until compelled to do so. Join us and
find out more!
Bennett Muraskin is the author of
Humanist Readings in Jewish
Folklore, Let Justice Well Up Like
Water: Progressive Jews from Hillel
to Helen Susman, and The Association
of Jewish Libraries Guide to Yiddish
Short Stories. He conducts adult
education programs for the Jewish
Cultural School and Society, in West
Orange, NJ, and the Congress of
Secular Jewish Organizations.
The program will be followed by a
Havdalah service.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND COMMITTEE
CHAIRS
Rabbi’s Corner
2014
Board of Directors
Dmitry Turovsky .........................President
Ann Toffel.....................................Vice-President
Irving Kleiman
Treasurer
Janine Simon ............................... Secretary
Jack Billig ............................ Member-at-Large
Diane Steinfink ..................... Member-at Large
Committees
Ceremonial..(Pro Tempore)......Dmitry Turovsky
Rabbi: FrankTamburello
http://www.lihumanistceremonies.com/
Education....................................Channing Stave
Jewish Education School..............Channing Stave
channing.stave@yahoo.com 914-793-7770
Jewish History Buffs...........................Gloria Weil
grweil@optonline.net
914-235-2612
Hospitality......................................rotating
Membership ( Co-chairs)
Janine Simon and Barbra Baum
losimon@me.com 725-5431
gbaummd@verizon.net 725-1402
Programs.................................... Channing Stave
channing.stave@yahoo.com 914-793-7770
Publicity Co-chairs
Charlotte Klein- advertising
Gloria Weil- newsletter
grweil@optonline.net
914-235-2612
For general information or questions
Please contact Dmitry Turovsky,
713-8828
aristophil@yahoo.com
or search our website, wchj.org
RABBIʼS CORNER
A THANKSGIVING HUMANIST
MEDITATION by Naomi King
Let us join and hands and hearts in
gratitude on this wondrous day where we
have the abundance of our lives before
us.
We remember this day of bounty all of
those who do not have enough, who are
afraid, who are lonely, and who suffer.
We wish for the abundance of this world
to be shared, for fear to become love, for
the lonely to feel welcomed, and for the
suffering to know rest and joy. For the
labors, the love, the care that gave us the
delights of this and every day, we say
"thanks!"
For the nourishment of our spirit, the
challenges that strengthen us, and the
friends we have on the journey, we sing
"thanks!" For all that is our lives, for these
good gifts, we whisper, "thanks!"
Overflowing with gratitude, let us shout,
"thanks!"
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Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice,
American Jewish World Service works to realize
human rights and end poverty in the developing world
Please join me now in making a critical
contribution to AJWSʼs Emergency
Response Fund.
With deepest gratitude,
Ruth Messinger,
President, AJWS
EBOLA CRISIS IN LIBERIA
Stop the Deadly Spread of Ebola
Your generosity enabled our Emergency
Response Fund to grant $144,000 to 10
Liberian organizations .
But despite this swift response, it’s clear
that as the Ebola outbreak escalates, our
trusted local partners are in dire need of
increased support..
Our goal is to raise an additional
$800,000 to aid Liberian
organizations that we have worked
with for many years in overcoming
the rampant mistrust—and halting
the spread of this horrificdisease.
Any amount you can give today
will help prevent nfection and save
lives
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WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY OF HUMANISTIC JUDAISM
PRESENTS
WHAT’S IN A NAME ?
THE STORY OF ASHKENAZIC NAMES
WITH AUTHOR
BENNETT MURASKIN
LEARN ABOUT HOW JEWISH NAMES ORIGINATED IN
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
GREET AND MEET NON THEISTIC JEWISH MEN AND WOMEN
ENJOY A LIVELY Q & A
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2:30 PM
Community Unitarian Church, 468 Rosedale Ave, WP
No charge for admission, but donations are welcome
For more information visit www.wchj.org
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“HANNUKKLAAS”?
A holidayday uniting
Christmas and Hannukkah?
Or a relic of the deep involvement of
Dutch Jews in the slave trade?
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — On a busy
street near the Dutch Parliament, three white
musicians in blackface regale passersby with
holiday tunes about the Dutch Santa Claus,
Sinterklaas, and his slave, Black Pete.
Many native Dutchmen view dressing up as
Black Pete in December as a venerable
tradition, but others consider it a racist affront
to victims of slavery. With Holland marking the
150th anniversary of abolition this year, the
controversy over Black Pete has reached new
heights. Hundreds demonstrated against the
custom in Amsterdam last month.
Nearly all of the community immigrated to
Holland, bringing their accumulated wealth with
them. Some of that wealth was on display last
year in the cellar of Amsterdam’s Portuguese
Synagogue, part of an exhibition celebrating the
synagogue’s immigrant founders.
On the Caribbean island of Curacao, Dutch Jews may
have accounted for the resale of at least 15,000 slaves
Through it all, Dutch Jews — some of whom
landed by Dutch transatlantic traders, according to
celebrate their own version of the Black Pete
Seymour Drescher, a historian at the University of
custom, called “Hanukklaas” — have largely
Pittsburgh. At one point, Jews controlled about 17
remained silent.
percent of the Caribbean trade in Dutch colonies,
But that changed in October, when an Orthodox Drescher said. Jews were so influential in those
colonies that slave auctions scheduled to take place
rabbi wrote a scathing critique about it in
on Jewish holidays often were postponed, according
Republiek Allochtonie, a Dutch news-andto Marc Lee Raphael, a professor of Judaic studies at
opinion website. “The portrayal of ‘Peter the
the College of William & Mary.
slave’ dates back to a period when we as
citizens did not meet the social criteria that
In the United States, the Jewish role in the slave trade
bind us today.”
has been a matter of scholarly debate for nearly two
decades, prompted in part by efforts to refute the
In one area of what used to be Dutch Guyana,
Nation of Islam’s claim that Jews dominated the
40 Jewish-owned plantations were home to a
total population of at least 5,000 slaves. Jewish Atlantic slave trade.
bankers handled it,” he said. “Non-Jews were
Read more: http://www.jta.org/2013/12/26/news-opinion/
also complicit, but so were we.” Known as the world/dutch-rabbi-confronts-jews-with-ancestors-complicityin-slavery#ixzz3GcIUpl7T
Jodensavanne, or Jewish Savannah, the area
had a Jewish community of several hundred
before its destruction in a slave uprising in
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1832.
JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER MID-WESTCHESTER
WILMOT RD,. SCARSDALE Q&A with Martin Fletcher
Wednesday November 19, 2014 7:30 PM
Martin Fletcher is interviewed by Joseph Berger on his latest novel Jacob's Oath
as well as Fletcher's unique perspective on life in Israel.
Martin Fletcher is the author of 4 books. A five-time Emmy-winning TV news
correspondent who has been the NBC News Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv, he is
currently a Special Correspondent for NBC News.
Ask the Rabbis: Current State of Judaism in America
Tuesday December 9, 2014 7:30 PM
Join Joseph Berger as he engages in a lively discussion with four local Rabbis on
their movements' perspective of the state of Judaism in America. Rabbis
Jonathan Blake of Westchester Reform Temple, Lester Bronstein of Bet Am
Shalom, Jonagthan Morgenstern of Young Israel of Scarsdale, and Gordon
Tucker of Temple Israel Center.
BUY TICKETS NOW AT: http://jccmw.org/adults-andseniors/arts-and-talks
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DATES AT A GLANCE 2014-15
Sat. Nov. 15, 2:30PM Bennet Muraskin
CUC*
Sat. Nov. 22, 2:30
PM
Jewish History Buffs
At Charlotte
Schacterʼs
Sun. Dec.14
“Simon Wiesenthal”
Acorn Theatre NYC
Sat. Dec.20, 10:15
Jewish History Buffs
Neil Holbertʼs
Sat. Jan 11, 2:30
Westchester Klezmer
CUC*
Sat. Jan. 24
Jewish History Buffs
At Pat Hammerʼs
* CUC- Community Unitarian Church
Executive Board Meeting:
Nov.1, 11 AM At the home of Barbra Baum
DIRECTIONS TO THE COMMUNITY CHURCH
468 Rosedale Ave. White Plains, NY
Take the Hutchinson River Pkwy. to exit 25, which is North
Street. Follow the signs to White Plains, left if you are
going,south, onto North St. At first traffic light left onto
Rosedale Ave.
The church is one block down on the right. Look for red sign at
entrance. At first traffic light turn left onto Rosedale Ave.The
church is on the right. Look for red sign at entrance.
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Tentative programs for 2014-15! !
!
!
!
HANNUKAH-Theater party and lunch
“Wiesenthal”- a play about Simon Wiesenthal”,
Theater, NYC, Hannukah lunch beforehand at
Toloache (Mexican restaurant with Jewish roots)
WESTCHESTER KLEZMER
TU B’SHVAT
PURIM
PASSOVER Model Seder, 7 PM
YOM HASHOAH Film- Life of Theodore Herzl
SHAVUOT Art Show and Norah Ephron
Dec. 14
Jan 11
Feb. 4
March 7
March 31
April 18
May 23
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