Sharing Faith & Friendship in St. Charles County, Missouri
Sharing Faith & Friendship In St. Charles County
1701 St. Peters-Howell Road
St. Peters, Missouri 63376
Ph: (636) 279-6524
בני תורה
B’nai Torah Monthly Newsletter
February, 2011
B’nai Torah is pleased to welcome
the following new/returning members:
- Rabbi Dale Schreiber
- Andrea Spinner Rumfelt,
- Mark Rumfelt and children
- Michelle and Marcus Spiegel and children
- Laura, Drew, and Dylan Vermeire
We will work hard to meet all your expectations, and will do everything we can to make
your membership a spiritual, educational and friendly experience.
Next Service: Shabbat Celebration:
Friday, February 11th at 7:30 PM.
Note to our members:
Our next Board meeting is at 6:30 pm on 2/1/11.
************************************************************************************************
Letter from Our President
If any of our members, financial supporters, potential members, or friends, have any questions about B’nai Torah, please send them to me and I promise that we will discuss your question at the Board meeting that follows receipt of your question. I also promise that we will send you a written answer to your question the day after we discuss it.While I thought this policy was well understood by our members, I am sorry that we did not extend this invitation previously. I believe it may have precluded some of the reactions that took place in response to rumors, misinformation and Loshon Hara.The unanimous election of Madi Brown as our Vice President, Mark Karp as our Treasurer, Laura Cohen as our Secretary, Tony Moseley as a Board Member and Newsletter Editor, and Lenny Baer as a Board member and Chairman of our Constitution Committee was well deserved. I am proud to be part of the leadership of our wonderful congregation.Our purpose is to serve our members, friends, and supporters. Answering your questions and addressing your concerns is part of our job.Shalom,
Jack
************************************************************************************************
B’nai Torah presented the following beautifully engraved plaque to
Larry and Faith Comensky:
Our Teacher,
Our Spiritual Leader,
Our Friend,
In appreciation for 25 years
Of prayers, love,
And beautiful Hebrew melodies,
It is our please to award a lifetime membership
To Larry and Faith Comensky.
Congregation B’nai Torah
************************************************************************************************
“My mother, Fannie Cohen, always said,
“It doesn't cost anything to say THANK YOU.”
Thank you, Laurie Seale for your wonderful donation of the DVD, “Paper Clips.” The subtitle for this DVD is, “It began as a lesson about prejudice…What happened next is a MIRACLE.” This special Educational Version will be used when we begin our Holocaust Class for our mature students and adults in April. We will announce the class in our Newsletter with an invitation to our members, friends, and supporters to join our class if they wish. A visit to the St. Louis Holocaust Museum will be included as part of this 4-5 week class.
What a great idea our local Crane Insurance Agency has, that those employees who enjoy “Casual Dress Friday” pay for the privilege by assisting a local charitable fund or religious organization. Thank you Nikki
DeRousse. B’nai Torah is grateful that you selected us to be the recipient of the funds you set aside for this purpose during 2010.
Thank you Patricia and Ezra Lander for your gift to B’nai Torah. We appreciate your nice comments about our “B’nai Torah Book of Original Family Prayers.”
Thank you Marvin Ansel for your gift to B’nai Torah and for letting us know that you appreciated that B’nai Torah provided Chanukah candles to our friends and members who had difficulty finding them locally.
Thank you Laura Vermeire for donating the monthly charge for our website since you established it in 2010, and for pledging to pay the monthly charges throughout 2011. Special thanks for developing and maintaining a website that reflects positively on B’nai Torah.
Thank you Lenny and Myra Baer for donating the Keurig Coffee Brewer to B’nai Torah. It adds class to the joint!
Thank you Larry Whelan for offering to mow and trim our lawn during the forthcoming growth season. What a great donation! Thank You, Hashem, for making Larry part of B’nai Torah.
Thank you Susan McGreals for the beautiful books you donated to our Student’s Library. We can measure a person’s values by the books he/she has read. The selection you donated speaks well for the McGreals Family. We wish Michael well in college.
Thank you Akiva and Revi for your financial support and your words of wisdom. It is always a pleasure to see your smiling faces and to wish you a “Good Shabbos.” We hope to see you at future services and events.
Thank you Wayne Ault for plowing our parking lot to remove the snow accumulation. It was cold out there when you did it at night. You can be warmed though by our love and appreciation for all you do for B’nai Torah.
Thank you Myra Baer for your love and devotion for B’nai Torah. The time and efforts you spent to automate our Financial Status and Reporting System will benefit B’nai Torah for generations to come. The automation of reconciliation and report generation will make the job less time consuming for our future Treasurers.
Thank you Carol Derfeld for serving on our Board during the past six months. Your response to our need for leadership and wisdom has benefited all our members and helps assure the future of B’nai Torah. We hope we have no more crises that require your help to solve; but we will take you up on your offer if we do need help.
Thank you to all those who made Pledges to provide financial support for our General Fund, The Cheryl Ault Memorial Fund (which will subsidize the tuition for a B’nai Torah member or past member who enrolls for ordination as a Rabbi), the Loving Kindness Fund (that provides Shiva Trays, flowers for those hospitalized, and food for the hungry and homeless) and the Sunday School Fund. 100% of the amount you donate goes to the purpose stated.
Additional pledges are welcome.
Thank you Faith Comensky for sharing information with our members at
the January 14th Service about the wonderful life, accomplishments, and
service to the community by Dr. Harold Wolff, your dear uncle of beloved
memory. All members, friends, and supporters of B’nai Torah are always
welcome to share their memories of their loved ones.
Thank you David Plotky for responding to my call for someone with
plumbing skills to help us with a faucet leak, and thank you Wayne Ault for
lending some muscle to help David resolve this problem.
Thank you Arthur and Zina Kaplun for paying your dues in full and for
your generous donation to B’nai Torah.
Thank you David and Dorothy Plotky for paying your dues in full and for
your generous donation to B’nai Torah.
************************************************************************************************
Tributes
Please send your messages with a donation to B’nai Torah. Include the recipients mailing address. Your message will be printed in this newsletter and sent to the recipient on a beautiful Tribute Card with your name and address.
Tributes may be sent for happy occasions, remembrances, memorials, Jewish Holidays, or just to say “Thank You.” Please send your Tributes and donation made out to B’nai Torah to: Laura Cohen, 202 Goldeneye Court, St. Peters, MO 63376.
B’nai Torah extends our condolences to Dan and Tracy Bain and to their children Mark and Lisa on the passing of Dan’s grandmother Alla Kapp. She was 101 years old and still living on her own, when she passed away on, January 3, 2011.
B’nai Torah extends our condolences to Arthur, Zina, and Michelle Kaplun on the passing of Zins’s aunt Fira Mazover (Zina’s father's sister) who passed away in Israel.
B’nai Torah extends our condolences to Boris Khais on the passing of his beloved wife Zoya, and to his daughter Anna Khais and her husband Gene White. Larry Comensky officiated at the graveside service
for Zoya.
B’nai Torah extends our condolences to Faith Comensky’s mother, Harriet Schwartz on the loss of her beloved brother, Dr. Harold Wolff and to Faith and Larry Comensky on the loss of their beloved uncle.
Faith and Larry Comensky made a Tribute to B’nai Torah to honor the memory of Dr. Harold Wolff, beloved brother of Faith’s mother, Harriet Schwartz.
A Tribute was made to B'nai Torah by Lenny and Myra Baer in memory of Lenny's mother, Clara, on the occasion of her Yahrtzeit as published in the January newsletter and acknowledged from the Bima at last Friday's service.
************************************************************************************************
“Our Jewish Home” is seeking new families!
With a trained “Our Jewish Home” educator, your family will learn together by doing specially developed creative hands-on activities--baking challah, playing games, making crafts, and more!
Our Jewish Home is an in-home family education program geared to families with pre-school to kindergarten children. Younger and older siblings are also welcome! The cost of the program is $100 (financial assistance available), which includes the home visits and great materials for your family to use for many years.
This program, coordinated by the Central Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE), is currently seeking families of all backgrounds to start in March, 2011, with the first of four home visits. For more information, visit www.cajestl.org or call Joan Wolchansky at 314.442.3760.
Have you looked at www.BnaiTorahStChas.com lately?
Oneg Shabbat/Kiddush Calendar
There are five dates available. Please contact Jack Cohen to reserve a date
to host an Oneg or Kiddush. You provide the sweets, snacks, beverages and
challah. B’nai Torah provides the wine. For those who wish, Laura and I will
be happy to meet with you, at our home or yours, to give a lesson on baking
a challah.
Friday, January 14th 7:30 PM – Jack & Laura Cohen
Friday, February 11th 7:30 PM – Jack & Laura Cohen
Friday, March 18th 7:30 PM - ?????
Friday, April 8th 7:30 PM - ?????
Friday, May 6th 7:30 PM - Tony & Rebecca Moseley
Saturday, June 11th 10:00 AM – Fran & Mark Karp
Friday, July 8th 7:30 PM - ?????
Saturday, August 6th 10:00 AM – Wayne Ault and Laurie Seale
Saturday, September 10th 5:30 PM – B’nai Torah kosher hot dogs
Wednesday, September 28th 7:30 PM – Myra and Lenny Baer
Friday, October 14th 7:30 PM and Saturday, October 15th 10 AM – Mark & Tina Blatt
Friday, November 11th 7:30 PM - ?????
Friday, December 9th 7:30 PM - ?????
Original Prayers From the Families of B’nai Torah
This book is available for $14.00 per copy from Amazon.com and is also being sold by The Source Unlimited, 11044 Olive Boulevard, Saint Louis, MO 63141-7615. All those who submitted prayers for this book, which was made possible by a Grant from the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, should now have their complimentary copies.
B’nai Torah Calendar
Friday, February 11th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration
Friday, March 18th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration/Purim Service
Saturday, March 19th 8:00 PM – Aliyah Theater Andrew Bollinger “Yiddish and Hebrew Songs and Melodies” Tickets: (636) 397-0309. Reserved seating available.
Friday, April 8th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration
Tuesday, April 19th TBD - Congregational Seder
Friday, May 6th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration includes honoring of our mothers.
Saturday, May 21st 8 PM – Aliyah Theater Barbara Raznick “Jewish Folktales: Tales of Wisdom, Wit and Fun” Tickets: (636) 397-0309. Reserved seating available.
Saturday, June 11th 10:00 AM - Shabbat Celebration and Confirmation of Jeremy Karp, including reading from our Torah by Jeremy and Mark Karp
Friday, July 8th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration
Saturday, August 6th 10:00 AM – “Sabbath of Dreams” Celebration. Lunch & Learn with Rabbi Schreiber follows Kiddush
Saturday, September 10th 4 PM – 5:30 PM followed by kosher hot dogs and discussion with our Rabbi about the coming of the High Holy Days
Wednesday, September 28th 7:30 PM - Erev Rosh Hashana Service
Thursday, September 29th 10 AM – Rosh Hashana Service
Friday, October 7th 7:30 PM - Kol Nidre Service
Saturday, October 8th 10 AM – Yom Kippur Morning Service
Saturday, October 8th 4:30 PM - Afternoon Service, Memorial, and Concluding Service
Saturday, October 8th 6:15 PM Break The Fast
Friday, October 14th 7:30 PM and Saturday, October 15th 10 AM – Bar Mitzvah of Nathan Blatt
Friday, November 11th 7:30 PM - Shabbat and Veterans Celebration
Friday, December 9th 7:30 PM - Shabbat Celebration
Wednesday December 21st TBD - Congregational Chanukah Party and PotluckLetter from Our President
