October 5: Music of German-Jewish composers forgotten in history performed live at the JCJ

A thriving Jewish life existed in Europe prior to the Holocaust. Jewish artists—painters, composers, authors, actors, and musicians—contributed to society and shaped its image, even while repeatedly suffering antisemitism. The Holocaust brought the unique, highly respected German-Jewish culture to a sudden end. Today many of its well-known personalities have slipped into obscurity. Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916),…

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JCC Newsletter – Sukkot

As we put the finishing touches on our sukkah and scramble as every other year to procure sets of lulav and etrog, let’s pull back on this frenetic High Holiday season just a bit. Historically, the ‘can’t miss’ Sukkot event at the JCC has not actually been on the holiday itself. The Sunday morning spent…

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JCC Newsletter – Haazinu/Yom Kippur

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Rosh Hashana

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Nitzavim/Vayelech

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…

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Music at the JCJ! October Events

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.…

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JCC Newsletter – Ki Tavo

“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.…

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High Holidays at the JCJ 2023/5784

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Shlach

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Beha’alotcha

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Nasso

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…

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JCC Newsletter – Shavuot

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…

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Art Night at the JCJ! – May 28

Join us for an evening of art, music and the chance to contribute to a cause of your choice! View artwork and get the chance to purchase through auction a selection of paintings, calligraphy and photographs by JCJ members Peter Nadler, Tomoko Rosenfeld, Masa Ichikawa and Michael Rivkin as well as from local artist and…

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JCC Newsletter – Bamidbar

“Without Jerusalem, the land of Israel is as a body without a soul.”Elhanan Leib Lewinsky; Hebrew writer & Zionist leader (1857-1910) “In a way, I was born twice. I was born in 1934 and again in 1955 when I came to Pittsburgh. I am thankful to say that I lived two lives.”Roberto Clemente; Baseball Legend…

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JCC Newsletter – Behar-Bechukotai

Cartago Delenda EstCarthage Must be Destroyed The famous quote, at least famous to those who spent time in AP European History, was spoken by Cato the Elder in the 2nd Century BCE during a debate in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War. Following that pronouncement, the Carthaginians led by Hannibal’s grandson Hasdrubal…

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JCC Newsletter – Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

In the cavalcade of six Bat/Bar Mitzvahs that dot the calendar over the next eight weeks, we begin with the Fishelbergs, one of the finest families to come out of Middlesex County, New Jersey. While the Jewish history of the Garden State could fill several volumes, our tribesmen’s relationship to the Fishelberg Family favorite, the…

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JCC Newsletter – Tazria-Metzora

“To be free, we must let go of hate.”-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l In his 22 years as Chief Rabbi and until he died of cancer in 2020, Jonathan Sacks completely changed the global landscape with his uniquely inspirational, thought-provoking discourse that gave a Jewish response to contemporary issues without compromising religious ideals. Far from arguing…

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JCC Newsletter – Shmini

What’s more Jewish? A Family-Owned Union Shop or Private Equity? In the late 19th/early 20th century, Jewish representation in organized labor was a given. Organizations like the Bund with origins in Europe or others like the Workmen’s Circle, United Hebrew Trades and the Jewish Labor Committee founded by European Jews in America focused their efforts…

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JCC Newsletter – Pesach

As we set the tables and make final preparations, there is only one last borderline esoteric ritual left for Jewish communities throughout the world. Figure out how to get firstborn sons from having to fast the morning before Passover starts. Let’s back up. Among the minor fasts spread throughout the year including one before Purim…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayikra

Chametz. Leaven. Food containing one of the five species of grain (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, rye) that is mixed with water and left to rise for more than 18 minutes. Chametz’s antithesis of course is matzah, namely non-leavened food made from those same five species of grain mixed with water but left to rise for…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayakhel-Pekudei

The Bank of United States. No, not Bank of America. No, also not Alexander Hamilton’s First or Second Bank of the United States for our AP American History scholars. The grammatically problematic but very real The Bank of United States got its start in 1913 and failed spectacularly 18 years later ushering in a series…

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JCC Newsletter – Ki Tisa

***If you have photos/video from the Purim party especially of the spontaneous dancing circle, please reply to this e-mail*** 12 years ago this Shabbat, a devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster rocked Tōhoku and Japan in an event whose fear and destruction became so deeply ingrained in the culture that its commemoration is marked simply…

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JCC Newsletter – Tetzaveh

׃A Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and reached Shiloh the same day; his clothes were rent and there was earth on his head.-Samuel 1 4:12 500 years before Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens, an unnamed man from the Tribe of Benjamin trekked 42km from the battlefield at Eben Ezer/Rosh Ha’ayin to Eli the Prophet…

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JCC Newsletter – Terumah

100 years ago this week, the Jewish Community of Nagasaki put their building up for sale. For us in Tokyo and the even earlier Jewish Community of Kobe, Japan’s original Jewish community in Nagasaki is viewed mostly as an esoteric oddity, a historical anomaly. Who were these Jews of Kyushu? Did they debate over which…

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JCC Newsletter – Mishpatim

Mishenichnas Adar Marbin b’SimchaAt the onset of the month of Adar, our joy increases. So teaches the Talmud in an otherwise quite dour section centering on the destruction of the Temple. Beyond dealing with the astrological and astronomical implications of such a statement, a controversy has recently arisen about the popular tune sung throughout the world. Many popular Jewish…

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JCC Newsletter – Jethro (Tull)

The Whole Megillah/Scroll of Esther begins with “It happened in the days of Ahasuerus (Xerxes)…who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia” before moving onto a description of an epic seven-day rager the King threw that people still talk about today. Hence why the best parties are described as being ‘of biblical proportions.’ In…

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JCC Newsletter – Beshalach

The tragic, untimely passing of Lisa Marie Presley, may her memory be for a blessing, provides us a moment to reflect on the enduring legacy of the Presley Family and their relationship with the Jewish Community of Memphis. Those who have paid homage to the King at Graceland, and if you haven’t you really should,…

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JCC Newsletter – Bo

As the JCC gears up to celebrate our 70th anniversary Platinum Jubilee, we reflect on the immense spiritual significance of the number 70 in Judaism. We read in the Torah a few weeks ago that Jacob’s House of 70 went down to Egypt leading to the exile and eventual exodus. The Sanhedrin, Judaism’s original (arguably…

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JCC Newsletter – Vaera

In a sign of rapidly warming ties between Japan and Israel, Tel Avivnikim flocked to Dizengoff Center this week for the opening of the Jewish State’s first 7-11. The humble konbini, while unlikely to offer kosher nana-chiki and ikura onigiri, began serving insulin-inducing slurpees and gastronomically precarious roller-heated hot dogs, a long way from the…

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JCC Newsletter – Shemot

Welcome Back from Hawaii, the Lower 48, Europe, Israel, Australia, Bali, Singapore, Niseko, Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen, Yuzawa, Okinawa and other areas outside the 23 Wards. For those who stayed closer to home, in a way you are the smart ones for not braving the crowds. If you can vacation at less busy times of the…

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JCC Newsletter – Miketz

Jews and Chinese Food: A Love Story Like the perennial springtime media coverage of the Christian-Arab who purchases the entirety of Israel’s chametz, you can set your watch to end-of-year articles and blogposts decoding the Jewish-American fascination with Chop Suey and General Tzo’s Chicken; a tradition that began in the early 20th century when New…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayeshev

The World Cup semifinals did not leave Jews with a lot of great options. Croatia? Despite the embassy’s geographical proximity to the JCC, they are basically fascist until today. No tears were shed in Israel on their loss to… Argentina? Home of the world’s only kosher McDonald’s outside of Israel to be sure but also…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayishlach

It is by now common knowledge that many popular Christmas songs you hear being piped through shopping malls the world over were written by Jews. ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ by Johnny Marks, ‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire’ by Mel Torme, ‘White Christmas’ by Irving Berlin represent just a few in the panoply of jingles…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayetze

Freddie Roman (born Fred Kirschenbaum)5697-5783; 1937-2022 As the world mourns the loss of an icon, it behooves us to reflect on the fast-disappearing world that was the Borscht Belt. The current nostalgia driven by the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel stems from how much of today’s comedic landscape was inspired by Jewish comedians performing in mid-20th century…

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JCC Newsletter – Toldot

Are Jews permitted to celebrate Thanksgiving? While nowadays the question seems anachronistic or even borderline absurd, there was a time in recent memory when the answer was not so simple. For one, Thanksgiving could lead to the dreaded ‘mixed dancing’ threatening millennia of Jewish propriety. But in another, slightly more serious way the concern exists…

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JCC Newsletter – Chayei Sarah

Next week brings no shortage of holidays. Of course, we are blessed to celebrate 勤労感謝の日 on Wednesday followed by American Thanksgiving on Thursday. And just in case you’re in the 3-5% of JCC families with little nexus to Japan or the US, we will also welcome Rosh Chodesh, the new Hebrew month of Kislev when…

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JCC Newsletter – Lech Lecha

With tourism to Japan open again, we are happy to announce that the JCC has gotten back to hosting visitors from all over the world for Friday night services and dinner. They love our sanctuary, cuisine, ambience and of course Izaki-san’s famous challah rolls. The one thing missing? Y-O-U! As much as folks from overseas…

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JCC Newsletter – Noach

As much as the JCC is back to our post-High Holidays ‘normal’, we find ourselves blessed with the unusual, extraordinary, and increasingly rare opportunity to learn with a Holocaust survivor and educator this coming Saturday night on 10/29. You can find a blurb about the speaker, Hedy Bohm, her fascinating presentation, and registration details on…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Bereshit

While normally the busiest time of year in a synagogue revolves around Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur, the JCC was rocking and rolling over Sukkot. We were fortunate to test just how many people could comfortably gather in our Sukkah on more than a few occasions. We hosted Sukkah decorating, multiple meals and a touching visit by…

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JCC Newsletter – Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot

Although the Torah was not written in chronological order, the newsletter usually is. So before we get to Simchat Torah, please help make the minyan this Shabbat morning at 10am if for no other reason than it is the only time all year that Kiddush will take place in the Sukkah. Simchat Torah, literally translated…

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JCC Newsletter – Haazinu and Sukkot

Two Ambassadors and a Member of the Knesset walk into a Tokyo synagogue for Kol Nidre. No, that’s not the start to a terrible rabbi joke. It really happened! The JCC was honored to host everyone who passed through our doors for the first Yom Kippur with Chazzan Yoni Roth since 2019 capping off an…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Vayelech and Yom Kippur

NB: Kol Nidre has been rescheduled to 6:00pm to maximize access for people coming from work and those with small children. Candle lighting and the fast begin at 5:03pm. While the High Holiday season is simultaneously fulfilling and frenetic, what follows just a week afterward is positively delightful. You may recall last year’s ode to…

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JCC Newsletter – Nitzavim and Erev Rosh Hashana

Our beloved High Holidays Chazzan, holiest of the holy and sweetest of the sweet, Yoni Roth has not only arrived on Japanese soil but is already comfortably ensconced with his son Yoav in the newly remodeled guestroom of your JCC. Combine their dulcet tones with the musical stylings of the JCJ’s own Aaron Kleiman blowing…

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JCC Newsletter – Ki Tavo

Four months ago, the photo accompanying the newsletter for Parshat Behar consisted of a dog wearing a bowler cap in a room on fire expressing relief at how despite a tanking market and a weak yen, Shabbat morning Kiddush at the JCC remained free. No reservations necessary. Everyone loves Kiddush especially when the noshing and…

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JCC Newsletter – Ki Teitzei

Avinu Malkenu. Our Father, Our King. Our Mother, Our Queen. The composition, first recorded in the Talmud and most associated with the Days of Awe, was described by former Chief Rabbi of the British Empire Joseph H. Hertz as “the oldest and most moving of all the litanies of the Jewish Year”. As the Hebrew…

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JCC Newsletter – Shoftim

The Hebrew month of Elul, immediately preceding Rosh HaShana, represents a time of repentance, introspection and other subjects you most likely won’t hear preached about the rest of the year. Communities have the tradition of blowing the shofar each morning to rouse us from our spiritual slumber. So if you’re up early enough on your…

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JCC Newsletter – Re’eh/Rosh Chodesh Elul

The JCJ welcomes everyone back for what promises to be an exciting year of events, activities and initiatives. Please continue checking the much more comprehensive weekly newsletters to follow. Services Kabbalat Shabbat Friday, September 2nd Services: 6:30pm Dinner with Reservation: 7:30pm Shabbat Parshat Shoftim Kiddush open for sponsorship Saturday, September 3rd Services: 10:00am Kiddush: 12:00pm…

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JCC Newsletter – Chukat

***Last Reminder for Friday Night Dinner Reservation by 2:00pm Wednesday 7/6*** The JCC was once described derisively as the ‘American Synagogue in Japan’, a play on the name of the institution which hoovers up an inordinately large percentage of members’ income known as ASIJ. But I think that characterization is a bit unfair. We are…

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JCC Newsletter – Korach

“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens…May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the…

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JCC Newsletter – Shlach

Since we celebrated Mother’s Day a Shabbat late, it only makes sense that the dads of our community should receive the same honor. Who is the greatest ABBA ever? No, I am not referring to ‘Dancing Queen’ and its eponymous nod to Shulamit, the first century daughter of Israeli King Herod. Greatest Abba means who…

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JCC Newsletter – Beha’alotcha

BLUF*: Sign up for Family Shabbat on 6/24. It’s the last chance for Sunday School students to eat for free! And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Rambam/Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah teaches that the highest level of tzedakah/charity is helping somebody become self-sufficient. Commitment to this lofty ideal may be a reason why…

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JCC Newsletter – Naso

In case you are wondering why the newsletter is landing in your inbox on a Wednesday morning, the JCC is hosting two exciting events these next few days that you won’t want to miss. In non-chronological order, here we go. Amelia Wilhelm’s Bat Mitzvah will take place this Saturday morning June 11th at 10am in…

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JCC Newsletter – Behar

Lag BaOmer is Lag BaOver, school is wrapping up and even the stock market is showing signs of being well, kind of done. Does that mean the JCC is tanking like your portfolio? Of course not! From upcoming B’nei Mitzvah to birthday kiddushes, Shavuot and even special guest Torah readers the JCC is rocking and…

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JCC Newsletter – Emor

Mother’s Day. Think we’re a week late? Hardly. Judaism commands us to treat every day as Mother’s Day. What is the source? Exodus 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother… If you look at the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, you will notice that the first four relate solely to humanity’s relationship with the Divine…

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JCC Newsletter – Kedoshim (Not Acharei Mot)

Kedoshim? Again? You may have noticed that this week’s newsletter subject line seems familiar. Well oddly enough, while last week’s parsha was indeed Kedoshim it was also another parsha called Acharei Mot. How is this possible? The answer depends on whether you were in Israel or the Diaspora. Usually, the weekly parsha/lectionary cycle (SAT word)…

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JCC Newsletter – Kedoshim

Sefirat haOmer. No, also not an autocorrect or typo. The term references the practice of counting seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. Before you think ugh rabbi, thanks for sharing another esoteric Jewish practice that has no practical significance in my life, know that Sefirah is a mitzvah taken directly from the Torah. Not impressed…

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JCC Newsletter – Second Days of Passover

Eruv Tavshilin. No that is not an autocorrect error or a typo. Eruv Tavshilin is a ritual that, if not obscure, comes up very infrequently. While prohibited on Shabbat, cooking is permitted on Yom Tov/Festivals like Sukkot, Shavuot and of course Passover. Normally, somebody is only allowed to cook those meals necessary for the holiday…

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JCC Newsletter – Shabbat Passover First Days

The tables are set. The kitchen has been turned over. The chametz has been sold. We are in the home stretch of a nearly yearlong process. It began with Dan Turk helping to arrange our Passover order from Streit’s in the middle of a pandemic and supply chain crunch. Several weeks after passing through the…

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JCC Newsletter – Metzora/Shabbat haGadol

Passover is coming. If you haven’t made your seder reservations yet, the deadline is today, Friday 4/8 so please visit our Passover page ASAP. But also…the Mormons are coming? Yes, it’s true. On Sunday, April 24th at 2:30pm nearly 200 LDS’ers, Zionists the whole lot of them, will visit the JCC to learn more about…

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JCC Newsletter – Tazria/HaChodesh/Rosh Chodesh Nissan

The Presidency. No, not of the United States but the JCC. In our nearly 70-year history, just over a minyan of men have held the title and borne the responsibility of leading our august institution. In the beginning were gentlemen from Harbin and Shanghai of Russian extraction. More recently, the Americans have held court. But…

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JCC Newsletter – Shmini

Before we get to Passover, let’s take a moment to appreciate just how amazing Purim was at the JCC. Instead of charging admission fees, we trusted that the community would step up in terms of donating to World Jewish Relief’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal instead and did you ever. We are currently holding at over 150,000…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Vayikra/Shabbat Zachor

The war in Ukraine continues to be on our minds and in our hearts. Many of our ancestors emigrated from Ukraine relatively recently after centuries of shtetl life. We have partnered with my rabbinical school YCT for a learning session on Monday, March 14th at 9:00am JST focused on the Torah of Ukraine. The event…

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JCC Newsletter – Pekudei

Once upon a time, the JCC held parties so raucous that people were literally led away in handcuffs. This is not hyperbole. In the 1950s during a ‘Monte Carlo Night’, the good people of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department raided our center and arrested two board members on suspicion of illegal gambling. We are all…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayakhel

The below photo shows the 1955 JCJ Purim Party. Dapper suits and evening gowns…on a Tuesday night. It might only be 67 years ago but it feels like light years away from the modern iteration of the JCJ. Let’s reclaim some of that faded glory on Wednesday night, March 16th at our Purim bash to…

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JCC Newsletter – Ki Tisa

Our Purim extravaganza on March 16th is shaping up to be a night for the ages. Following the Megillah reading, we will dance to the musical stylings of an incredible, world-renowned Japanese Klezmer band. We would love to see you there so please RSVP by replying to this e-mail if you plan on joining. There…

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JCC Newsletter – Tetzaveh

To paraphrase the chorus of a title track from the late 90s (but still touring) Backstreet Boys: ‘The JCC is back. Alright!’ We’ve got some exciting events in the works including a Family Shabbat + Friday Night Dinner on 2/25, an in-person Saturday morning service on 3/5 and of course our big Purim bash on…

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JCC Newsletter – Terumah

Greetings from the lovely APA Hotel Yokohama Bay Tower. I can’t help but note the irony in pointing out that of all the quarantine hotels available, your rabbinic family were brought to one whose owner unapologetically dabbles in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. But in either case, we are thrilled to be back in Japan and look…

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JCC Newsletter – Mishpatim

*ありがとうございます/おおきに/תודה רבה/מירסי מונג׳ו/א גרויסן יישר כח* and a deep, heartfelt thank you to Sherry Greenfield for keeping the newsletter going during Rabbi Andrew’s parental leave. An additional debt of gratitude is owed to the JCC’s resident artist Peter Nadler and Sunday School instructor Adam Brownstein for their write-ups as well as Carmel Rosenthal for leading…

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JCC Newsletter – Yitro

This week we hear from JCJ board member Sherry Greenfield I first arrived in Japan in 1989 for a one-year adventure to teach English (how many people have heard that story before?). Long story short, met my husband Masa the first month in a local community orchestra, got married in a Jewish wedding in Philadelphia…

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JCC Newsletter – Beshalach

This week’s parsha is one of the most dramatic ones in the Torah – the parting of the Red Sea. It’s a great one to explore so sharing a few interesting links to appeal to a variety of levels, including questions and reflections worthy of a good dinner debate. Enjoy! Hebcal – full text for…

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JCC Newsletter – Bo

Happy New Year! We hope you had a good year-end holiday and you and your loved ones are healthy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan announces the official logo for the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the State of Israel in 2022.This logo expresses our desire to further advance…

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JCC Newsletter – Shemot

This week we hear from board member Adam Brownstein. Here’s from Adam: I’m Adam Brownstein, and I’ve had the honor of serving on the JCJ Board since 2017. My wife, Megumu, our children, Emma (11), Ari (8) and Yuki (2) live near Komazawa Park, and we’ve been proud members of the Community since returning to…

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JCJ Newsletter – Vayechi

In our continuing series of JCC Board Member introductions, this week we feature Peter Nadler and his passion for art. Peter is originally a lawyer from New York and has been a board member for the past few years. For this issue of the newsletter, we will focus on a Jewish theme, albeit a bit…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayigash

We had great participation for the Second Harvest mitzvah project and the students all made holiday cards to go into the food package. Check out photos in https://jccjapan.jp/albums/ (Password is the same as the calendar. Please reply to this email if you need the password) ServicesIn person services are happening! We are looking forward to…

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Japan Yiddish Club

Did you know the JCJ has a Yiddish Club? Led by member Jack Halpern (of Kanji Learner’s Dictionary fame), the club is open to all levels and will be meeting in person after a long hiatus. Our classes are not just about language learning. The Yiddish language, and Yiddish culture (songs, klezmer, literature,theater, film), is truly…

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JCC Newsletter – Miketz

If you missed the fun Hanukkah sing-along with Shari, there’s still enough time to get in your fix of Hanukkah songs and parodies. The West Side Hanukkah Story video by Six13 is a must. Rabbi Andrew, Tali and Asher will be hosting live from New York a musical Havdala and candle lighting on our Sunday…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Vayeshev

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. Next up, Hanukkah! Craving potato latkes or sufganiyot? Check out Tori Avey’s easy-to-follow Jewish cooking site for how to make these treats along with many others.   Join us for a joyous community sing-a-long with member Shari Berman on Sunday evening just after Hanukkah begins. Details below.  Link to…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Vayishlach

It is the JCC’s distinct honor to host the Bar Mitzvah of Eli Sheldon this Friday night and Saturday. You would be forgiven, by me at least, for the family’s name not being immediately evident to you. LCDR Ben, Jessica, Eli and younger brother Josh hail from our small but very committed cohort of military…

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JCC Newsletter – Vayetze

You are not alone. A song lyric that may remind you of Michael Jackson or Dear Evan Hansen depending where you fall on the generational divide. Many JCC’ers reported a variation on the same theme after returning from their first trips since COVID: “I can’t believe how much my older my parents got.” This statement…

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JCC Newsletter – Toldot

本音vs 建前 Honne vs Tatemae With the exception of the enduring centrality of the fax machine, there is little expats enjoy discussing more about Japanese culture than whether the aforementioned concept of separating one’s true feelings and outward behavior represents an insincere façade or, quite the opposite, an essential component in maintaining social harmony. Although…

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JCC Newsletter – Chayei Sarah

BBYO is Launching in Japan!The Jewish Community of Japan is excited to be working with BBYO to launch a local chapter that will serve the post-B’nai Mitzvah audience (teens 13 to 18) fun and meaningful experiences. BBYO is the largest pluralistic Jewish Youth Movement in the world reaching 70,000 teens in 725 chapters across 60…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Vayera

Young Professionals. The Junior League. NextGen. UJA-Generosity. Nearly every urban environment contains a cohort of folks in their 20s and 30s who will change the Jewish world. But before they do that, or maybe in order to do that, they like to get together and enjoy themselves. These are the stock of Abraham and Sarah…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Newsletter – Parshat Lech Lecha

As we prepare to enter 紅葉/kōyō I welcome everyone back from their summer holidays and High Holidays. The most common refrain I heard from people the past month runs something along the lines of “I cannot believe how much my parents aged.” Please do not feel alone in what can be a very draining experience…

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JCC Newsletter – Parshat Noach

Kabbalat Shabbat. How did a 15th-16th century innovation of the Jewish mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria in Tzfat take on such a significant role in contemporary Judaism? The answer boils down to people’s work schedules. Rabbi Luria used the precedent of Kabbalat Shabbat’s closest antecedent, the Friday night ‘Magen Avot’, which was formulated in medieval times…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Newsletter – Parshat Bereshit

Sunday School this past week rocked the house. I am surprised we were not pelted with quail eggs by our neighbors and that the good folks at the Koban did not use a no-knock warrant to see what was up with all the noise emanating from our patio Sukkah where we danced with the lulav…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Newsletter – Shabbat Chol haMoed Sukkot

Please find below the Kübler-Ross rundown of where we are in the Jewish calendar. Denial: Chazzan Yoni Roth’s arrival from Israel to lead High Holiday services is imminent. The Japanese government will lift all visa restrictions in spite of the Olympics and record COVID numbers. Anger: How dare MOFA and the MOJ not change their…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Newsletter – Parshat Haazinu and Sukkot

“These Jews and their f@!$%#& tree houses” the now resigned-in-disgrace former Governor of my home state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, was said to describe Sukkot. Regardless of how you feel about the Festival of Huts, we invite you to celebrate in our luxurious, patio sukkah above where the old JCC swimming pool used to…

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JCC Newsletter – Shabbat Shuva/Parshat Vayelech

Aliyah. Plural: Aliyot. Noun. The Cambridgestein-Websterowitz Dictionary defines the term as ‘elevation’ or ‘the act of being elevated’. In the Jewish vernacular, receiving an Aliyah refers to a synagogue honoring an individual/family by ‘calling them up to the Torah’ to recite three short blessings prior to a section of Torah and one short blessing afterwards.…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Nitzavim and Rosh haShana

The ‘twice-a-year’ Jew. A contemporary product of declining affiliation rates and rising secularism across an enlightened post-modern western civilization? Hardly. Over 80 years before a woman would be formally ordained as a rabbi in 1972, the “Girl Rabbi of the Golden West” Ray Frank preached the following Kol Nidre message in a Spokane, Washington synagogue…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Ki Teitzei

More than in most years, the High Holidays have completely snuck up on us. Rosh haShana begins on the evening of Labor Day (US), Monday September 6th. As impossible as this sounds, it also means that for the second time in the last decade Hannukah will coincide with Thanksgiving weekend. I apologize for the America-centric…

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JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Re’eh

Last year while up way too late at my shviger*’s home in Denver, I ended my Rosh haShana Dvar Torah with “May we merit to appreciate what we have taken for granted, that next year we will shed tears of teruah, when we stand in our sanctuary and hear the shofar blasts together.” Well, it…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Eikev

This past Friday as we were celebrating 体育の日 Health and Sports Day, your JCC was inundated with calls and e-mails from Jews landing in Tokyo without access to kosher food, prayer books and other religious items that the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee had assured would be taken care of upon arrival. Since that was clearly…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Shabbat Chazon/Parshat Dvarim

There are few peoples in the world who understand the concept of destruction and rebuilding as much as Yudaya-jin and Nihon-jin. On our honeymoon three years ago, nearly every Castle or Temple we visited was a replica of a replica of the original. One cannot help but simultaneously both appreciate the majesty of what is…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Rosh Chodesh Av/Parshat Mattot-Masei

JFK. For some, the acronym represents the name of a president whose assassination shattered a nation’s innocence. To others, those three letters printed on thick paper stock signify an arrival home at a dilapidated airport adjacent to the pothole-filled, under construction since its opening in 1971 Van Wyck Expressway. When it comes to Saturday mornings…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Pinchas

Our board is comprised of dynamic individuals who are committed to serving the community and ensuring the sustainability of the JCJ. Board members are smart, hardworking people who are dedicated to this community. We would like to give board members an opportunity to write something to the community so that we can all learn more…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

JCC Shabbat Newsletter – Parshat Balak

Have you noticed the Events heading below? Our analytics do not tell us when you stop scrolling in the e-mail so we genuinely have no idea. Sherry Greenfield, our Events Committee Chair, puts together incredible programming featuring arts, culture, Israel and really something for everyone. Wednesday night’s Zoom with Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich featured some…

by JCJ Jewish Community of Japan

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