This morning at the Biennial, Nancy Brinker, sister of Susan G. Komen, received the Eisendrath “Bearer of Light” award. In her acceptance speech she mentioned her upbringing in Peoria and specifically growing up at Anshai Emeth! We met up with her at her book signing and took this picture.
Back row, from left to right: Rabbi Karen Kriger Bogard; Josh Simon, Youth Group Director; Sarah Garfinkel, Youth Group Director; Paul Beiersdorf, Congregational President
Front row, middle: Nancy Brinker
By: Josh Simon
Today was a great day for Congregation Anshai Emeth and the Peoria Community at Biennial! The morning started with an award presentation to Nancy Brinker the founder of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. If you didn’t know Nancy and Susan grew up in our congregation and that fact was mentioned several times. Our delegation got a chance to meet Nancy and get a picture with her.
I attended a presentation by Wendy Mogel for the Education Summit this afternoon that was very interesting and entertaining. This evening Sarah and I snuck away from the program to go watch Bradley play and beat George Washington. It was a nice surprise to see that the Braves would be in DC the same time we were. I am now headed to an event to kickoff the newest organization affiliated with the URJ. RYPA (Reform Youth Professionals Association) was formed to help Youth professional both full and part time to receive better recognition with in the movement for the work that we do. Of course the big buzz here is about tomorrow afternoon when President Obama will join the Biennial and speak. I know we are all looking forward to hearing from the President. Speaking of Presidents we were joined here in DC this afternoon by the NFTY-MV President and Peoria’s own Natalie Seitzman. Have a great Night and I’ll have more tomorrow!!!
Engaging our Middle/High Schoolers
By: Rabbi Karen Kriger Bogard
Today I continued with the education track at the Biennial and attended some great sessions all focusing on middle and high schoolers. I started my day off with Dr. Wendy Mogul – an amazing and engaging speaker – who helped develop one of the curriculums we use at Anshai Emeth, “Making Sacred Choices.” She discussed how we can further involve high schoolers in our temple: using them as madrichim/teacher helpers at the Sunday School, having them write and lead their own service for some Saturday mornings, and using them as counselors at camp. It turns out that on the common application for college one of the things the students are asked to list is paying jobs they’ve had within the past three years. Wouldn’t it be great if we could employ these students at our temple and utilize all they have to offer here at Anshai Emeth?? I think so!
Right now I am currently in a session which talks about how to engage middle schoolers (grades 6/7/8). One of the best ideas I’ve come across is having a teen advisory board for sunday school. We would organize a group of students to help give input on Jewish life for them at Anshai Emeth and how we could improve it and better meet their needs. These students could also be a listening ear for other students who want to voice their opinions.
I am really looking forward to coming back to Peoria and implementing some of these ideas in our congregation.
Any thoughts on these ideas? I’d love to hear some feedback!
By: Josh Simon
Hello from our Nation’s Capital. Sarah and I started our day at 4:00 am Peoria Time. Yes, that’s right I actually was up at that time. We drove to the Bloomington Airport for our 6:30 flight to DC through Atlanta. For those of you that don’t know the Bradley Basketball team is also in DC for a game tomorrow night against George Washington. So there were a few Bradley fans on our flight from Atlanta to Washington as well as others headed to Biennial. I have been to 6-7 NFTY Conventions with between 700-1400 NFTYites at each but this is like NFTY Convention X4. I am lucky to of made so many connections in my years involved in NFTY and PeFTY that it seems everywhere I turn there is someone I know. I spent my afternoon at session talking about engaging 20 and 30 year olds in our congregations and communities. As well as a session with other Youth Directors discussing Financial concerns to running a strong Youth Program. I feel very blessed to say that we at Congregation Anshai Emeth should be proud of the way we support our Youth Program both Financially and in other ways. That’s not to say that I won’t ask for more when it comes budget time lol.
Rabbi Karen, Paul, Sarah and I are going to head to Dinner soon before taking part in tonight’s opening session. Tonight Thedore Bikel will be honored with the Debbbie Friedman award for contribution to Jewish Music. This brings together two moments in Peoria that I remember. One of my first years as advisor Theodore Bikel performed at the Madison theatre and the youth group helped with the event. Of course many of you remember when Debbie Friedman was in Peoria three years ago this week. Time to go to dinner we will talk to you soon.
By: Rabbi Karen Kriger Bogard
Today and tomorrow I have the opportunity to participate in the Youth Summit. This is an entire track at the Biennial dedicated to keeping our youth and young adults involved in Jewish life. The first session opened up with an online poll of everyone sitting in the room! We texted our responses to a specific number on our phone and they all showed up on the screen. It was really neat and immediately captured the attention of all the participants. The speaker, Dr. Jonathan Woocher, focused on how education needs to be adapted to a changing world; we must keep pace to stay relevant. Throughout his presentation he posed a lot of interesting and thought provoking questions – questions I hope will be answered throughout the summit! A couple things he asked are:
If you have answers to these I hope you will share! I’m off to another session…more later!
When: Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: Congregation Anshai Emeth, 5614 N. University, Peoria
Admission: Free
Sponsored by Congregation Anshai Emeth and ARZA
Alex Cicelsky is a founding member of Kibbutz Lotan , Director of Research and Development at the their Center for Creative Ecology and is also one of their instructors. Kibbutz Lotan is an amazing community (one of two Reform kibbutzim in Israel and part of the IMPJ) whose mission is to live Jewishly, equitably and in an environmentally sustainable way. Besides the environmental research work they do (and put into practice) on the kibbutz, their Center for Creative Ecology runs a myriad of educational programs for post high school, college and post graduate students. They also run programs for visiting congregations, for American, Israeli and international youth groups and international (including Palestinian) visitors of all ages who come to experience the community and/or to learn first hand about the kibbutz’s mud and straw bale building techniques, permaculture and philosophy of eco-village living. To learn more about Kibbuz Lotan check out their website! www.kibbutzlotan.com
The Gift Shop will be open 11:30-12:30 PM on Sunday Dec. 4th and Dec. 11th to take orders for gelt and dreidals. Then we will be open on Sunday Dec. 18th 11-12:30 PM to pick up orders.
If you need a large quantity of gelt or dreidals (more than 25) please place an order with me as soon as possible. E-mail me at edierov@aol.com or call 682-3045
Congregation Anshai Emeth is building its first Mac ‘n’ Cheese menorah.
Bring in your boxes, any brand, and help us fill up the menorah. Two congregation members are building a framework for our menorah and we hope to collect up to 1000 boxes to donate to local food pantries.
As part of this, the Anshai Emeth Religious School is having a content to see which class can collect the most boxes. Students are asked to bring boxes of macaroni and cheese to Sunday School on December 4, December 11 and December 18. The menorah must be filled by December 21, the night of the Temple’s Family Chanukah Party.
The class that collects the most boxes of macaroni and cheese by December 18 will win a prize that will be awarded at the Family Chanukah Party on Dec. 21.
After Chanukah the boxes of macaroni and cheese will be donated to a local agency that helps feed the hungry.
Questions? E-mail Steven Marx (for Religious School-related questions) or Alice Winget.
This Sunday during Religious School, at 11:45, our 3/4 and 5/6 students will be presenting what they’ve learned to the rest of the school. Parents are encouraged to attend as well so you can see your students in action demonstrating what they’ve been learning so far this year. Hope to see you there.
Steven Marx, Religious School Principal
