Library Minyan of Temple Beth Am   
September-October 2015
 The Minyan Monthly
From the Rosh
For many of us, summer has a different pace. Kids in camp, family vacations, or just walking more slowly on those hot days. Your Steering Committee has been busy planning for the coming year, with new learning, social, ritual, and youth activities under discussion. Thanks to some recent additions, we now have four bnai mitzvah on our calendar for 5776.  
 
Our next SC meeting will be September 8, so if you have any suggestions or concerns, please give them to me or another SC member. Let me remind you that the Steering Committee consists of chairs of LM’s eight standing committees, plus the Rosh. Besides myself, current SC members are Dale Bodenstein, Bob Braun, Sandra Braun, Rachel Rubin Green, Miriam Prum Hess, Jerry Krautman, Susan Laemmle, and Sandra Lepson. 
 
You may have noticed that we’ve put in place some signage as well as open space for a wheelchair and for children’s play within the Dorff-Nelson Chapel.  We hope these will make our facility more inviting. Our best asset for welcoming all types of members is friendly contact, so please continue to engage your fellow members, both new and old, and share their triumphs and travails. Write your name and contact information on the back of LM business cards and give these to newcomers so that they can contact you after Shabbat for more information or for home hospitality.
 
— Carl Sunshine
Rembering Janet Hadda
Allan Tobin sends his thanks, as well as those of Ceri and Kathy Hadda and of David and Adam Tobin, to TBA friends, and especially to the Library Minyan, for their support and help — individually and collectively — during Janet’s last weeks and her shiva.
Young Women in White: a Little Supplementary Reader for the Days of Awe
Just in case there aren't enough words in our Days of Awe mahzor, the Library Minyan conceived the idea of a supplementary reader, for those rare moments in the day-long services when our minds wander from the ancient and resonant words our prayer leader is chanting...and our souls restlessly seek images and thoughts unknown to us before.
 
Inspired by the Minyan's idea, I gathered together readings from a wide range of sources, readings that move and inspire me, and I hope will move, challenge, and, even inspire, all of us, expanding and deepening our experience of the Days of Awe. The authors include poets, writers, ancient and contemporary rabbis — even a Benedictine monk.
 
Perhaps the most surprising — even the most disconcerting — of the passages in the reader comes from the Babylonian Talmud. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel calls Yom Kippur not one of the most solemn, but rather one of the most festive, days, of ancient Israel. He tells us that on Yom Kippur, just as on Tu B'Av, the young maidens of Israel, clad in white dresses, would go dancing in the vineyards in search of a suitable mate. What is most moving to me about this image is not really that they went dancing on Yom Kippur (it's not long before the rains come) — or that the profound solemnity at the Temple had this counterpoint of joy in the countryside. Rather, it is the added information that all the young women wore borrowed dresses, so that no one would be ashamed if she herself could not afford a dress or if her own dress was shabby
 
Thus, even at the moment they sought personal fulfillment, the young women of ancient Israel showed communal sensitivity. More important to them than having the most exquisite dress was the honoring of fairness, equality, and social justice. The passage affirms that there is no authentic personal fulfillment without engagement with community, without sharing, generosity, fairness.
 
As we enter the Days of Awe, praying for ourselves and our families as we stand together in community, what a model for all of us those long ago young women still are.
 
— Miriyam Glazer
View from the Pews
Here we are in the season of introspection and renewal — a time when we try to do better as individuals and as a community. And so, I want to make two pleas to the kahal. First, when someone puts themself forward to play a role in services, please do not complain about personal features that are mostly not under their control. Second, try hard to be the change you want to see in the Library Minyan by taking on a new role, rather than complaining. 
 
Learning to lead a new service or chant Haftorah, or preparing a Drash for the first time, is something many of us could handle — something we could change about ourselves. Doing that will enrich our personal religious experience, and the Library Minyan community will be richer for it. Creating a safe and supportive environment for such learning and growing requires an attitude of kindness and respect. Let’s aim for that in 5776.
 
— Rachel Rubin Green
DPL News
As we begin planning for DPL activities for 5776, I would like to thank Dafna Taryle and Rebecca Friedman for their deep commitment and wonderful leadership in chairing the Diaspora Pot-Luck Committee (which is actually a sub-committee under the Social & Hospitality Committee) in 5775. They were ably assisted by their incredible committee members: Lilia Hirschhorn, Tina Kaminski, Rachel Sisk, Jackie Weiss, Janet Weissman, and Julie Weissman. I know that all that participated in DPL events last year found them to be a wonderful way to make new connections with members of the Library Minyan. Thank you to all that worked so hard to ensure the success of each event and for strengthening our community.
 
I am pleased to announce that Rachel Sisk has agreed to chair the DPL Committee in 5776. We are incredibly grateful to Rachel for stepping up to this task. We look forward to her leadership and creativity in working with this year’s DPL Committee to plan new and continuing opportunities for LM members to get to know one another. No one person can do this alone, and I know that Rachel welcomes new members to the Committee. Please contact Rachel at rachelesisk@gmail.com.
 
— Miriam Prum Hess
High Holy Day Preview
Planning for the High Holidays is well underway. While most positions are assigned, please feel free to contact Mayer Brenner, Sandra Lepson, Aron Wolf, Jennifer Low or Bob Braun if you are interested in participating — especially if you’d like to do a very brief reading or poem.
 
We are excited that this year we will have some younger layners learning the unique trope for the Torah readings. Joel Grossman and Rabbis Gordon Bernat-Kunin, Adam Kligfeld and Michael Berenbaum will share D’vrai Torah with us; Michelle Stone will lead us in Kol Nidre; and many others will be davening, as well as sharing thoughts and poetry.
 
This year we are delighted that Rabbi Miriyam Glazer has put together a beautiful supplemental reader for use during the Hagim, which we hope will make our t’filah and learning more meaningful.
 
— Jennifer Low
Simchat Torah Plans
As a result of discussions about last year's experience, new plans for Simchat Torah morning are being made. There will be an early service starting at 8 am, aiming for a complete service with individual aliyot for all that finishes by 11:00.  
 
The regular joint service will start at 9:30, and will provide both individual aliyot for those who wish them and group aliyot — followed by the calling up of Kallah Torah and Kallah Bereshit, the puppet show during reading of Bereshit, and a special humorous drash. We are taking steps to complete this service somewhat earlier than last year.
 
— Carl Sunshine & Bob Braun
Other Upcoming Events
Sept 12: Extended kiddush
Sept 26: Bar Mitzvah of Ethan Kaufman
Oct 3: Torah Club
 
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VISIT US ON SHABBAT
Mishna study 9:20
Tefillot begin 9:45
Temple Beth Am
Dorff-Nelson Chapel
1039 S. La Cienega Blvd, 90035
The Library Minyan of Temple Beth Am, 1039 S. La Cienega Blvd 90035  www.libraryminyan.org