Harvey Swearingen
Carla & Len Epstein
Barry Caplan
Shelley Avery
Aaron & Cheri Ritchie
Patrick & Bea McFarland
Lynn Berry
Raul Gallegos
Tom & Cynthia Simonian
Marlene & Irwin Smith
Ruth Neufield
Mark & Pam Robinson
Robin Simonian

Bea McFarland
Warren Gold
Marlene Smith
Smitty Smith

In mixer bowl, beat together 1 1/4 cups peanut butter and margarine until well-blended and creamy.

Gradually beat in half the powdered sugar.

With a spoon, incorporate the remaining sugar, the graham cracker crumbs, and 1/2 cup chips.

Lightly grease a 13 X 9 inch baking pan and press mixture evenly into it. Smooth top.

Melt remaining chocolate with remaining peanut butter in saucepan over very low heat. Stir constantly until smooth. Spoon over graham cracker base, making a thick layer of frosting.

Chill 1 hour.

Cut into bars; keep covered in fridge.

Makes 60.

Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover, 30-45 minutes until soft. Drain, cool, and peel. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Meanwhile, cook apple slices in water barely to cover until almost tender. Drain and save the cooking water.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees . In a greased baking dish, make alternate layers of potatoes and apples, sprinkle with brown sugar, lemon juice if using, and dash of cinnamon; dot with
margarine. Pour 1/2 cup reserved apple water over them.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Serves 6-8.

6 Cups sliced carrot rounds (about 2 pounds)
3 tablespoons margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Place carrots and salt in a 2 quart saucepan and cover them with cold water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until just tender, about 10-12 minutes.

Drain well, and return carrots to the pan. Add margarine, sugar, and mustard and cook, stirring gently, over low heat until carrots are coated with sauce.

Taste and adjust flavorings as needed.

Garnish with parsley.

Serves 8-12.

How to Observe Tashlich

Tashlich is traditionally performed on the first day of Rosh HaShanah, but if this day falls on Shabbat then Tashlich isn’t observed until the second day of Rosh HaShanah. If it is not performed on the first day of Rosh HaShanah it can be done anytime up until the last day of Sukkot, which is thought to be the last day of the New Year’s “judgment” period.

In order to perform Tashlich take pieces of bread or another food and go to a flowing body of water such as a river, stream, sea or ocean. Lakes or ponds that have fish are also a good place, both because the animals will eat the food and because fish are immune to the evil eye. Some traditions say that fish are also significant because they can be trapped in nets just as we can be trapped in sin.

Recite the following blessing from Micah 7:18-20 and then toss the bits of bread into the water:

Who is like You, God, who removes iniquity and overlooks transgression of the remainder of His inheritance. He does not remain angry forever because He desires kindness. He will return and He will be merciful to us, and He will conquer our iniquities, and He will cast off our sins into the depths of the seas.

In some communities people will also pull out their pockets and shake them to make sure any lingering sins are cast off.

Combine lentils, onion halves, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Sauté chopped onion stirring often until onions are golden brown. Reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring until onions are a rich, dark brown, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

Drain lentil cooking liquid into a 2 cup measure. If necessary add water to equal 2 cups. Discard onion halves.

Return liquid to saucepan with rice, cumin, and salt. Stir.

Bring to a simmer and cook covered over very low heat until all liquid is absorbed and rice and lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Top with caramelized onions.

Serves 4-6

If you choose to omit the liqueur, use 1 cup of orange juice and a dash of lemon or lime juice.

1 very large honey dew melon
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup orange-flavored liqueur
Mint sprigs/garnish

Mix berries, juice and liqueur together and allow to macerate.

Cut melons into halves and seed. Cut into 8 wedges. Arrange on plates with a generous spoonful of drained berries on the side. Garnish with mint sprigs.

5- Rebecca Golombek
16- Chloe Gold

Leading all High Holiday services

Rosh Hashanah

Wednesday, September 8th @ 7 PM
Erev Rosh Hashana Service

Thursday, September 9th @ 10 AM
Rosh Hashana Morning Service

Thursday, September 9th @ 12:30 PM
Tashlich at the Creek
Followed by Dairy luncheon at the Shul

Yom Kippur

Friday, September 17th @ 7 PM
Kol Nidre Evening Service

Saturday, September 18th @ 10 AM
Yom Kippur Morning Service
Afternoon Discussion Group
@ 5 PM – Mincha, Yiskor, Neilah
Break the Fast to Follow

Sunday June 6th 10 – 12 pm
Sunday School Outing

Friday June 11th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
potluck/meat
Parashat Korach

Friday June 18th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
potluck/dairy
No Hebrew class today

Friday June 25th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
potluck/meat
Parashat Balak

tree: etz
money: kesef
very: me od
truth: emet
month: khodesh
what: mah?
servant: eved
mountain: har
water: mayim
today: hayom
many: rav
gift, offering: mincha
year: shanah
nose: af
king: melech
name: shem
chief: sar
number: mispar
nation: goy
country: eretz
throne: ciseh
death: mavet
forever: l’olam
little: katan
deed: ma aseh
Jerusalem: Y’rushalayim
generation: dor
desert: midbar sea: yam
covenant: brit
foot,leg: regel
people: anashim
everything: hakol
camp: machaneh
women: nashim
evil: rah
heavens: shamayim
ground, earth: adamah
hundred: meah
friend: chaver
love: ahavah

Have Questions?

Feel free to drop into the Hebrew class on Fridays. . . .
or/ Feel free to give Cynthia a call (308-1333). . . .

Bring whatever study materials you are using or check out some of ours. . .

Mariel Asher
Barbara Asher

Marlene Smith

Smitty Smith

Carla & Len Epstein
Neil Glotzer
Lydia Benavente
Shelley Avery
Aaron & Cheri Ritchie
Patrick & Bea McFarland
Lynn Berry
Marlene & Irwin Smith
Raul Gallegos
Jeff Christy
Barry Caplan

Rice Salad:

2 c. water
1/2 cup frozen baby sweet peas, defrosted
2 T. soy sauce
1/2 cup fine sliced scallions
1 c. long-grain rice
2 tsp. minced ginger root
2 c. cooked diced chicken
1 medium carrot, peeled and shredded

Dressing:

1 T. soy sauce
2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp. water
2 T. sugar

Combine water and soy sauce in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil
over medium high heat.

Stir in the rice, reduce heat to medium low.

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat, uncover and let the rice cook in the pan.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, carrots, peas, scallions and ginger root.

Fluff the rice with a fork and toss well to coat ingredients. Serve on salad greens.

There are a lot of old jokes about Jewish guilt. Deep in our culture there is this tendency to cast guilt upon ourselves and others. Some times it seems as if our self-inspection causes us to not only feel guilty but to lose that precious commodity called Jewish optimism. Right now in Jewish life the pessimists are having a field day—the American Jewish community is shrinking, Israel is in trouble, the world is against us, etc. Then along comes the summer…

You have to love the gift of summer. Most of us get a chance to get away from our lives. We get a chance to experience something new and think and feel something different. Summer gives us the chance to see a bigger picture and to rediscover hope. With this in mind I’d like to throw out three challenges for the summer.

The first challenge is to work in to your summer travel some Jewish experience. Find your way to some museum, some synagogue, some historical site. Check out the marvel and miracle of Jewish life and creativity.

Here in Israel we are inundated with Jewish travelers— There’s a reason people come here. There is 4,000 years of Jewish history here. My apartment is on a street built that Abraham and Isaac walked some 3,800 years ago. There are archeological sites going way back before that. Christian tourism is huge here and getting bigger all the time—people want to explore the roots of where we all came from.

Here you also find a big piece of the Jewish future—amazing Tel Aviv culture, the unique spiritual city of Jerusalem, the astounding work being done by Israel’s scientists and entrepreneurs. However you don’t have to go 8,000 miles to witness Jewish life. You can visit the Skirball Museum in L.A. or a Reform synagogue in Salt Lake City.

The 1st summer challenge is to find one Jewish stop on your summer journeys. The 2nd challenge is to study some text. If there is one thing most Jews agree on it’s that study and using our brains is a very important part of life well lived.

Here are a few suggestions. Read or re-read the first couple of chapters of Pirke Avot and check out the wisdom literature of the early rabbinic period. You might ask yourself what is going on with the big deal made as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai presents his five disciples.

Read again the opening chapter of the Bible—what is the message? Why the repetition of the word “good”? How does Genesis chapter one understand the issue of how there can be evil in the world created by the one God? (compare with Isaiah 45:1-7) What is tohu ve-vohu (“unformed and void”)? How does the creation really begin? What recommend everything he wrote but you might try God in Search of Man or The Sabbath or Israel, An Echo of Eternity or A Passion for Truth or The Earth is the Lord’s.

The third challenge is the hardest:try on some new commandment, halacha. Life is sanctified by taking responsibility, by transforming ourselves, our relationships, and our time with each other into something more refined, lofty, and dignified.

Here are some suggestions: take on a new obligation bringing honor to an elder, take on some Shabbat practice that will make that day more different than your week days, make some new tzedakah commitment, try on a new prayer practice.

If you currently don’t pray take on a one minute practice each day. If you do pray, try tacking on a new meditation or a new piece of text or a new focus of the heart or a prayer ritual or garment that in the past didn’t speak to you.

The main thing is to be open to the possibility that some new obligation will sink roots and help you change you. Summer is also a good time to get back to neshima amukah, a deep breath, feeling the fullness of life, and the chance that the world can be good again, and that we can all fall in love again with the world, with life, and with the optimism that sustains us and creates us anew.

Sunday May 2nd 10 – 12 pm
Sunday School today

Friday May 7th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck/Meat
Parashat Behar/Bechokotai

Sunday May 9th
No Sunday School
Happy Mother’s Day

Friday May 14th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck/Dairy
Parashat b’Midbar

Sunday May 16th 11 – 1 pm
Last day of Sunday School
Day of fun activities

Friday May 21st 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck/Dairy ( for Shavuot)
Parashat Naso

Friday May 28th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Parashat Beha’alotecha

Day follows day with wearisome monotony.

Only the holidays twine themselves together to form the circle of the year. Only through the holidays
does life experience the eternity of the river that returns to its source.

Then life becomes eternal.
Franz Rosenzweig

Elliot Cohen & Congregation Beit Shalom mourn the passing of Jeffrey Swiskay – - a very dear and long time friend of Elliot’s.

Three things the Lord has kept from His people:

The hour of death, the Day of Judement and the reward of good deeds.

- Midrash Hagadol

Patrick & Bea McFarland
Mariel Asher
Barbara Asher
Warren Gold
Orange Go
Pam Robinson
Sophie Simonian
Matthew Epstein

Peel and thinly slice the cucumbers. Put them in a bowl and toss with salt. Chill for at least 1 hour. Drain them well.

In a medium bowl, mix onion, lemon juice, sour cream, dill, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss
in the cucumber and chill again for about 20 minutes.

(Hint: This is even better made one day in advance)

Using a small pot, bring oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic to a boil.

In a large bowl combine shredded cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, and onions. Pour the boiled contents of the small pot over the vegetables and toss lightly.

Refrigerate until cool.

Enjoy!

Shavuot, means “weeks” in Hebrew, and refers to the timing of the festival, which is held exactly 7 weeks after the 2nd day of Passover. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai.

Shavuot is the 2nd of the holy “Shalosh Regalim“, the three annual pilgrimage holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, when Jews from all over Israel and beyond converged on Jerusalem to celebrate and bring temple offerings.

It is customary to eat a dairy meal at least once during Shavuot. There are varying opinions as to why this is done. Some say it is a reminder of the promise regarding the Land of Israel being a land flowing with “milk and honey.”

According to another more practical view, following the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the Israelites felt that they should not eat previously prepared meat, which had not been properly butchered and prepared according to the newly received laws of Kashrut. So, instead, they ate dairy food for which there were no Kashrut dilemmas.

Sunday April 4th
No Sunday School Today

Friday April 9th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck – Meat
Drash/Tom Simonian

Sunday April 11th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Friday April 16th 7 pm
Torah Service
Parashat Tazria-Metzora

Sunday April 18th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Friday April 23rd 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck – Dairy
Israel Independence Day
PowerPoint Presentation

Sunday April 25th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Friday nights at Congregation Beit Shalom have become very special.

We gather together with a potluck of either dairy or meat dishes, salads and desserts. We smell the delicious aroma of challah that is home made and baked in the shul by Len Epstein and now more recently, Matthew Epstein as assistant challah-baker.

We light the Sabbath candles, we bless the children, the wives and husbands, and we follow with the Kiddush and Motsi.

We enjoy Friday night around a Sabbath table and then we sing song after song.

This is followed by a drash prepared by any one of our members….Words of Torah are discussed and values and principles are learned.

We conclude with more singing and the blessing after the meal: the Birkat HaMazon.

Please join us!

If you have a need give us a confidential call…

Mary C. Schilling, M.A., Director
Cynthia Fischer, LCSW, Assistant

Office Location: 114 S. Stevenson, Visalia.
559-432-0529
559-288-1531
559-308-1333

The Golden Age of 2nd Avenue

This documentary chronicles the early 20th-century halcyon days of Yiddish theater in New York City, featuring photos, music and archival clips from historic Yiddish films, as well as candid interviews with luminaries such as Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Narrated by noted Broadway and Hollywood actor Herschel Bernardi, the program also includes performances by Paul Muni, Molly Picon, Maurice Schwartz and other Yiddish theater icons.

Click for Image Recipe Book Sales/Fundraiser

This is a dish served on festive occasions, but also widely served on Israeli street corners. To be tasty, it must be served hot and fresh.

Ingredients:

Dough
1. 1/2 pound margarine
2. 1 teaspoon salt
3. 3 cups self-rising flour
4. Warm water

Stuffing:
1. 1/2 Cup feta cheese
2. 1 Cup cooked spinach
3. 3 Egg yolks
4. Garnish
5. 1 Egg yolk
6. 4 Cups sesame seeds

Directions:

Dough
1. Melt the margarine and mix with flour and salt.
2. Add warm water until able to roll dough.
3. Roll it and cut circles with a cup.

Stuffing
1. Mix all the ingredients. 5. Place on a well-greased cookie tray
2. Put one teaspoon of stuffing on each dough circle. 6. Bake at 350 degrees until golden
3. Fold in half. approximately 15-20 minutes
4. On top, spread yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds. Serve Hot

May you have a Rafuah Sh’lemach

A Complete Healing.

Our cookbook, Nibble, Nosh, & Nourish is only $18….

And makes a double contribution.

First, it warms the family home with delicious Jewish recipes.

Second, it raises funds for Rabbinic programming … !

9 Joel Epstein
10 Ruth Golombek
10 Kevin McMillan
21 Patrick Davis
27 Myriam Farris

They are a great fundraiser for the Shul, and contribute to Tikkun Olam.

We observe every festival in accordance with its inherent nature, and in accordance with our current situation. In the Haggada, we proclaim that “In every generation there are those who rise up against us, and the Holy One saves us from them.” Even when one drinks the same four cups, eats the same matzot, and reads the same Haggada, one should relate, at some level, to the salvation and dangers that exist in that specific year, in that generation, in the particular historical context in which one finds oneself.

On the other hand, we not only look at our current situation, but at the events of the past, at the beginning of the journey, the roots of the process. We examine the source of the holiday’s significance and message.

Chazal have taught us via the Haggada that one must relate to two historical aspects of the holiday. First, there is the original situation of servitude, suffering, and hardship. Then, there followed redemption, salvation and upliftment. The Mishna teaches that “In every generation, one must see himself as if he has gone out of Egypt.” But in order to experience the salvation from Egypt, one must first feel the experience of servitude and suffering that our forefathers experienced, to internalize the notion that “Had God not taken us out of Egypt, we and our children and grandchildren would still be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” One must imagine – and it is not easy – that one is enslaved in Egypt, with the mortar and the bricks. Once one has done that, striking the proper balance between the “matza aspect” and the “maror aspect” of the seder night, having experienced some of the suffering, one can properly appreciate the magnitude of freedom.

The Rambam’s formulation of this law sharpens this aspect even more. Unlike the usual version, in which each person must “see himself as if he went out of Egypt,” the Rambam writes that each person must “present himself as if he is currently leaving Egypt.” One is not to retell an old memory from previous years, but rather to re-experience the exodus itself, as if one is currently caught up in the tension and shock of the original experience.

I believe there is also a third aspect to our observance of the festivals. The opening verses of
Parashat Bechukkotai (Vayikra 26:3-13) describe a calm and quiet period that stands in stark
contrast to the two aspects of which just spoke. The Egyptian exodus and the birth of the State
of Israel, both tempestuous and dramatic periods, presented manifold challenges faced
courageously by the Jewish people. In our time, too, like many other periods of Jewish history, are constantly called upon to gird our loins to take on the challenges and threats confronting us.

Sunday April 4th
No Sunday School Today

Friday April 9th 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck – Meat
Drash/Tom Simonian

Sunday April 11th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Friday April 16th 7 pm
Torah Service
Parashat Tazria-Metzora

Sunday April 18th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Friday April 23rd 7 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner
Potluck – Dairy
Israel Independence Day
PowerPoint Presentation

Sunday April 25th 10 am
Sunday School Today

Where: Congregation Beit Shalom
When: May 2010
Who: Open to the community at large.
Cost: None/donation accepted
Info: 559-432-0529 or 559-308-1333

Try this one: Waltz with Bashir

Director Ari Folman employs vivid black and white animation in this Golden Globewinning film, exploring the memory gaps in his life during his service for the Israeli army in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s.

Recounting stories based on recorded interviews with colleagues and friends, Folman relives the horrors of war and dissects the curious coping mechanisms humans use to survive under brutal circumstances .

Good to See: Stuart Seiden

Volunteers are Needed for Garage Sale, Sunday, March 14th.

Volunteers are Needed to help paint inside of shul!

Mazal Tov: Lauren Hooyer, Adin Ross, Matthew Epstein & Raziel, Immanuel, & Chaya Perez for remembering to bring tsedakah to Sunday School. 3 Trees were planted in Israel on Tu B’Shevat in special honor of Carla Epstein – their Sunday School teacher.

May you have a Rafuah Sh’lemach

A Complete Healing.

Use beef, calf, or chicken liver according to preference. Fry the liver in 2 tablespoons oil until well cooked, no pink should be showing. Fry the onion until tender and golden brown. Grind the liver, onion and egg together and mix with remaining ingredients. Place in a small bowl and refrigerate.

Enjoy !

Fill a large pot 3/4 full of water. Add soup bones or flanken and precook the boons or meat, skimming foam that rises to the top. Empty the pot and fill it with fresh water. Add the cooked bones and meat, chopped cabbage, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and sugar. Cook 1-2 hours until the cabbage is soft.

Serves 4

4 Bea McFarland
6 Homer Go
8- Tom Simonian
16 Ombre Go
27 Myriam Farris

Led By Rabbi Larry Friedman
Saturday April 3rd 6 pm

Menu:

• Seder Plates & Matzah Ball Soup
• Chicken w/Mushroom Sauce
• Green Salad w/ Artichokes
• Carrots w/ Onions
• Garlic Potatoes
• Strawberries & Macaroons