Steve and Phyllis Goldstein, $5400. Adam and Susan Schneiderman, $3600. Harry and Rachel Blumberg, $1800… On and on a typical Yom Kippur Appeal will go for 5-15 minutes depending on the size of the congregation. In what is no doubt the most peculiar institution in synagogue life, a board member ascends the bimah following Kol...
Round Challah. The unmistakable, yet subtle indicator of Rosh Hashana compared to the widely practiced apples and honey ritual or more frontal fish or in rarefied circles, sheep’s head. Many an explanation have been proffered by rabbis and bakers alike as to the symbolism behind the often oblong bread dotting many a holiday table. The...
Rahm Emanuel. Ken Weinstein (almost but not quite). John Roos. The previous three American administrations have all sent or tried to send Jewish ambassadors to Tokyo. The why behind those decisions remains a mystery. The recent move away from gefilte fish to sushi in the Jewish-American palette has been cited, at least at kiddush, as...
With the High Holidays are just around the corner, there is lots more to look forward to at the JCJ soon after! Two music events are planned for October appealing to a wide variety of interests. With Japan opening up, we are honored to have several touring artists to do exclusive events at the JCJ....
“Remove your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”Exodus 3:5 While the Torah is describing a burning bush, the above verse could easily apply to Japan’s cathedral, nay Beit haMikdash of baseball, Meiji Jingu Stadium. The Okini-obsessed Osaka-ben speakers of Kansai may scoff, interjecting that Koshien’s hallowed grounds possess no equal....
The High Holidays are fast approaching. For your convenience and to help make for an orderly process, we will reserve the same synagogue seats that you booked last year. Should you wish to cancel or change your reserved seats, please let us know via the High Holidays reservation page before the reservation deadline. Otherwise, the...
Saturday’s Bar Mitzvah of Theo Daquin will round out our six B’nai Mitzvah in eight weeks extravaganza. All are welcome for what promises to be an exciting culmination of the Class of 5783. From the time of Charlemagne, the Daquin family has been tethered to Gaul. The World Cup edition of the JCC newsletter already...
Long before Larry Ellison founded Oracle, Steve Ballmer took over as CEO of Microsoft, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page created a little search engine called Google, a very different Member of the Tribe was making her imprint on the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest writ large. Closer to when German-Jewish émigré Levi Strauss...
Your JCC’s preparing to welcome dozens(!) of new members for Friday night services and dinner tonight continues a longstanding tradition known as Oneg Shabbat, or Oneg Shabbos for the more Ashkenazically inclined. In early 20th century America, Blue Laws prohibited businesses from opening on Sunday. To put challah on the table, or more likely pay for...
With literal minutes to go until Shavuot starts (we’re still within the 18 minutes) and ChatGPT unable to compose a paragraph that brilliantly combines the holiday of Shavuot with our Bat Mitzvah Kayla Kleiman’s roots in Chicago, lets focus on what is important. Tonight, Thursday the community will bring in Shavuot with Cholov Yisroel (über...