GRJC Annual Music Festival
"Songs of Shabbat"
April 5, 2009 10:00am -noon
Join Cantor
Michelle Freedman
the GRJC Adult Choir
Religious School and Nursery School
students in a celebratory songfest!
Zimriya!
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GLEN ROCK
JEWISH CENTER AND TEMPLE ISRAEL PRESENT
SUZANNE VROMEN, AUTHOR OF
HIDDEN CHILDREN OF
THE HOLOCAUST
The community is
invited to a talk by Suzanne Vromen, author
of Hidden Children of the Holocaust,
Sunday, April 5 at 11:30 a.m. (after minyan),
at Temple Israel in Ridgewood. The
talk is co-sponsored by the Adult Education
committees of the Glen Rock Jewish Center
and Temple Israel. Admission is free and
coffee will be served.
At this presentation,
Professor Vromen will be signing copies of Hidden
Children of the
 Holocaust.
The book will be available for $20.
For more information,
call
201-444-9320,
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A
LITTLE LADINO...
ON SATURDAY
MORNING WE WILL SING EIN-KELOHEINU IN LADINO,
THE LANGUAGE OF SEPHARDIC JEWS.
We'll learn the words and the tune together.
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ON EASTER
SUNDAY
APRIL 12, 2009
10AM - 12 NOON
Good Shepherd
Lutheran Church
in Glen Rock is
looking for
volunteers (teen to
adult) to watch their toddlers and young
children in the Church Nursery during Easter
Services.
A great opportunity
for community service
hours!
Call the Lutheran Church directly at
201-444-6598.
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 Pampers
has a program called 1 pack = 1 vaccine.
Pampers will donate the cost of one tetanus
vaccine to the US Fund for Unicef for every pack
of specially marked Pampers diapers and wipes
purchased by May 1, 2009. For
those congregants who have children or
grandchildren in diapers this seems to be a
"no-brainer". For those of us who do not have
anyone in diapers this can serve as a double
mitzvah: We can buy the SPECIALLY MARKED Pamper
diapers and wipes and drop them off at the GRJC
where they will be donated to those in need of
them. There is only a short window of time to
do this, so please participate now!
Note: The cost of a package
of Pampers wipes is significantly cheaper than
a pack of diapers, but still results in a
tetanus vaccine for a child in need. So please
pick up a package the next time you're out
shopping!
For further info please go
to
www.pampers.com/en_US/unicef/tab/partner.
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LOOKING FOR NEW
SHOFAR BLOWER(S)
for the High Holidays
experience with woodwind or brass
instruments preferred, but not required.
Rabbi Tow can provide training. Call him at
the GRJC or email him at
rabbi@grjc.org
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COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE-APPLY
NOW!
Open to Jewish undergraduates who wish to attend
a 4 year school full time in the USA or Israel.
Open to all North Jersey residents & special
consideration given to students with special
needs. Students must possess demonstrated
financial need and be in good academic
standing.
DEADLINE MAY 15, 2009! Download applications at
www.jccotp.org (under children's and teens).
Mail original and 4 copies to Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades, 411 East Clinton Avenue, Tenafly, New
Jersey, 07670. Attention: Ronit Gorelik
More Info.: Debra Turitz, LCSW at 201-569-7900,
ext. 305.
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Shabbat, April
3-4, 2009
10 Nisan, 5769
SHABBAT
HA'GADOL
The
Torah portion for this week is Tzav.
We light our Shabbat candles at 7:05 pm.
Tot Shabbat (Social Hall),Shabbat
Sheli(Sanctuary)
6:30 pm
Junior Congregation 8 pm in the Youth
Lounge
Friday night services
will begin at 8 pm.
WE WILL
CELEBRATE ALL APRIL BIRTHDAYS AND
ANNIVERSARIES DURING THE FRIDAY EVENING
SERVICE
Saturday morning services will begin at 9
am
Shabbat
ends at 8:07 pm on Saturday.
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Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family
The Shabbat before Pesach (Passover) is
known as Shabbat Ha'gadol, "The Great
Shabbat". There are a number of
explanations for this name. One explanation
that we have is that on the Shabbat before
Passover, Rabbis would give an extra great
talk about the laws of Passover. The talk
was not referred to specifically as great in
quality but rather in quantity. After all,
there are many laws, customs, traditions,
and procedures that we have in Jewish
practice that help us to prepare for this
very important holiday.
I would like to focus on just a few of the
Passover traditions that we have in order to
emphasize some of the details that can help
to make them more meaningful. There is
additional information on preparing for
Passover in the annual Passover mailing that
was sent out a few weeks ago.
Let's begin with the search for chametz, "bedikat
chametz", that we do this year on Tuesday
evening April 7 after sundown. Our sources
suggest that for this activity we do not
rely on the light of the moon. Why might we
consider relying on the light of the moon?
The reason is that Passover falls in the
middle of the month, and so the moon will be
full-and bright. Instead, we use a candle
or a flashlight. In order to experience the
mystery of the search, go ahead and turn the
lights down so that you are really using the
candle or flashlight to find the chametz
(leaven). For kids, this search can be a
Sherlock Holmes adventure, and you can even
leave clues to where the next piece of
chametz will be. We can leave "clues" since
before we do the search we leave a few small
handfuls of chametz in designated places
around the house. We should find these and
look for anything else that may be
leftover. Check all the rooms that might
have had any chametz products in them over
the course of the year. When we're all done
searching we say: "Any unfound chametz that
may still be in our possession that I am not
planning to eat before Pesach or that I did
not sell to a non-Jew, shall be as if it
does not exist, as dust of the earth."
The next morning we can place the leftover
chametz in a trash bag and take it outside.
We say the formula: "Any chametz that is in
my possession, which I have seen and which I
have not seen, which I have removed and
which I have not removed, shall be null, and
accounted as the dust of the earth." What
then do we eat between the time when we
remove the last of our chametz and the
Seder? We do not eat Passover matzah until
Seder time, and so we can eat non-chametz
items like fruits and vegetables and we can
eat egg matzah up through lunchtime.
A note on Shmura-Matzah: This phrase really
needs to be flipped around to understand it
better. Usually in Hebrew the adjective
comes after the noun unlike in English.
When we flip the phrase around we get, "Matzah
shmura", meaning "Matzah that is guarded."
We are not talking here about a group of
people in black suits and sunglasses
guarding the Passover matzah before the
Seder like it was the Coca-Cola secret
recipe. "Guarded matzah" means that we made
extra sure that no water came into contact
with the wheat used to make it either from
the time of harvesting or at least from the
time of grinding. We did this in order to
be certain that there was no chance of
leavening from the contact with water.
Also, there is the idea that we must take
special care with this Shmura-Matzah since
it is a special mitzvah to eat Shmura-matzah
as part of the two Seders along with the
regular Passover matzah.
The last item to think about is the Afikoman.
The Afikoman is the half piece of matzah
that we break at the beginning of the Seder
and hide for later. It's important for our
young people to find the pieces of Afikoman,
not only due to is high trade-in value, but
because we are supposed to eat the piece of
Afikoman last. We are not supposed to eat
anything more after tasting the piece of
Afikoman so that the taste of matzah is the
last thing in our mouths. (That being said,
we still have two cups of wine/grape juice
to drink after the Afikoman.)
I hope these reflections will provide some
food for thought (pun intended) as we
prepare for Passover and our Seders.
On behalf of myself, Rachel and Dara, and
the staff and volunteer leaders of the GRJC
including the religious school and nursery
school, I want to wish our entire GRJC
family a very happy, healthy, and meaningful
Passover,
Rabbi Tow
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Blessing of the Sun
The morning of this Wednesday, April 8, will
be the "Blessing of the Sun" ceremony that
will take place locally at Temple Israel,
6:25am, preceding the service and siyum for
the firstborn. Blessing of the sun is open
to all and it is special since it occurs
only once
every 28 years! Once every 28 years
the sun is, according to the Talmud, in the
same position in the sky that it was on the
Wednesday/4th day of creation, the day the
sun itself was created. We will say the
blessing:
Baruch Atah
Ado---nai Elokeinu Melech ha'Olam, oseh
ma'aseh b'ray'sheet.
Praised are You, Ado---nai, Our God, Ruler
of the Universe, who does the work of
creation.
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Upcoming Week's Calendar
Sunday, April 5
10:00am
- 12 noon
ZIMRIYA!
11:00am
Author's Talk at Temple Israel:
Suzanne Vromen and Hidden
Children of the
Holocaust
Rabbi's Adult Bnai Mitzvah class -
Canceled this week.
Monday, April 6
Regular Office hours
Regular Nursery School hours
NO HAY CLASS
NO MELTON ADULT ED
8:00pm
Monthly GRJC Board of
Trustees Meeting
Tuesday, April 7
NO NURSERY/HEBREW SCHOOL
(through Passover)
11:15am - 12 noon 50+ Club
Senior Aerobics
Wednesday, April 8
6:25 am - Blessing of the sun
followed by 7 am
First Born
siyum at Temple Israel,
Ridgewood
Office open 9am - 12 noon for
food deliveries
EREV PESACH -- 1ST SEDER
OFFICE CLOSED
6:00pm
GRJC Congregational
Seder
Friday, April 10
7:00am
Morning Minyan
OFFICE CLOSED
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