5:30 p.m. Cocktail Hour
6:30 p.m. Dinner
Kosher meals available upon request

$180 per person $360 per couple

The University of Massachusetts Club
Post Office Square
225 Franklin Street, 33rd Floor
Boston, MA
For reservations, to purchase an ad in our Program Book, or become a sponsor of the eventplease use the enclosed reply card or visit their website HERE.

TheRetreat consists of a wonderful mix of relaxation, sports, eating, learning, prayer, spirited singing and camaraderie. A major highlight of the schedule is our Scholar(s) in Residence, who deliver multiple inspiring presentations. Other signature activities include the famed Minyan in the Grove, Hearing Men’s Voices, our Saturday Night Social Event. This year will add several new items to that list, including our first annual Friday afternoon Golf tournament.

First time participants are especially welcome, and enjoy a discounted rate.  The reasonable fee covers all food (kosher), lodging, recreational activities, and study materials.  Financial aid is available, and is handled in a very confidential manner by our registrar.

Current membership in a synagogue or Men’s Club is not required for attendance, and Jewish men of all traditions are welcome. So please join us for a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a great getaway with Jewish men from throughout New England.

For more information about TheRetreat, download their brochure and watch a short video highlighting the reinvigorating experiences that we provide at www.theretreatfjmc.com.  Those who are interested can contact our registrar, Peter Matusow  (at pmatusow@verizon.net), who will gladly provide you with the name of someone who can tell you what he has gained from TheRetreat.

REPORT FROM BUDAPEST AND ISRAEL, Part One

REMEMBERING RON SIEVE

As many of you know, over a week ago I embarked on a trip to Budapest and Israel.  As I was boarding the plane for Budapest, I recieved a phone call from the synagogue informing me that Ron Sieve had died .   Throughout the trip, I carried Ron’s memory and spirit with me.  If the trip had a theme, it was the preservation of the Jewish people and how Jewish life and memory are maintained by our institutions, our synagogues, schools, camps, and community centers.

Ron represented the finest tradition of supporting Jewish community life.  Building on the legacy of his father, Ron made sure that his fellow congregents were greeted, honored, and cherished; and he joined them in remembering their losses and celebrating their milestones.  Ron arrived early for every Shabbat service; attended every major holiday, and regularly joined us for our minyan.  He was often the first person I would see, greeting me with a story, a joke or an update about someone in our community.  Ron will not be replaced, certainly not by one person, or forgotten.  Tehi Zechrono Baruch, may his memory continue to be for a blessing.

COMING HOME TO BUDAPEST

Ten days ago, I joined twenty nine rabbinic colleagues from all over the United States on a week-long visit to the Jewish communities of Budapest, Hungary and Israel.  The trip was sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America, the former UJA, represented here in Boston by the CJP, and was designed to introduce us to the work of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Agency for Israel—two vital agencies that are supported by our gifts to CJP.  All participants of the trip are members of the Rabbinic Cabinet, which represents  rabbis who work closely with their local Federations and I was honored to be the New England representative.  In Israel, we met with Jerry Silverman, the CEO of the Jewish Federations who lives in Newton, and with Natan Sharansky, the CEO of the Jewish Agency, who will be coming to our synagogue on March 11^th to speak to our community.

In the past, when I return from weeklong trips, I can easily recount my experience and what I learned in a Shabbat talk.  This time, that will not be possible.  This was one of the most transformative and emotion-packed missions I have ever taken; I will still be processing what I saw and heard for months to come.  When we gathered to discuss what we had learned before leaving Budapest for Israel, I called the trip “a homecoming to a place I had never seen before.”  My beloved and much-missed father-in-law Rudy Lefkovitz was born in the Carpathian mountains, in an area that (before the treaty of Versailles) was part of greater Hungary.  During the Second World War, he went to Budapest only to return to his hometown to help his family during the final months of the war.  From that town, they were taken to Auschwitz where most of the family, including Rudy’s mother and sisters, were killed the day they arrived.  Budapest was strewn with traces of Rudy, with men who resembled him, with names of his family members, with his specific Hungarian-inflected Hebrew. On the wall of the Holocaust Memorial in the Budapest Jewish Cemetery, I happened upon the last names Lefkovits and Ferenci, the names of his closest relatives who survived Auschwitz.  In America, Rudy owned a restaurant and was a terrific cook, and our meals in Budapest were familiar  chicken paprikash, fish dusted with too much pepper, layered fruit filled pastries and fruit soup.

My connection to the people we met in Budapest was more than personal.  We visited the synagogues of a Jewish denomination that exists only in Hungary and in one other city in the world—Neologue Judaism.  Neologue (which means new word) Judaism developed in the 1860s as a Hungarian response to the reform of Judaism.  As it developed, Neologue synagogues grew more traditional in their liturgy; required separate seating for women, but no formal barrier or mehitza; introduced an organ and choir behind the bimah; encouraged rabbis and cantors to wear robes, and made changes in the liturgy akin to those made in Reform and Conservative synagogues, such as rising for the Shema, and ending the Friday night service with Shalom Aleichem, rather than Yigdal.  To my knowledge, the only synagogue that follows in the footsteps of the Neologue tradition is our own, which is no accident.  Budapest’s Neologue synagogues were visited by Rabbi Herman Rubinovitz when he was sent to Europe by Rabbi Solomon Schechter to reimagine Conservative Judaism for New England.  As I have mentioned in the past, Rabbi Rubinovitz built Mishkan Tefila on the model he discovered in Budapest.

On our last full day in Budapest, I met the rabbi of the smaller of the two neologue synagogues at the JCC.  He was there to do outreach and to meet young families; I asked him how he draws in young families, given the traditional nature of the Shabbat service.  He shared two ideas:  remove the organ and choir from the service and lead alternative family services once a month on Friday night and Shabbat morning.  He also leads two seders, one for older members and another geared towards younger families.

Meeting the Neologue Rabbi --- Click on the above image to view the first photo gallery of my travels.

Visiting two neologue congregations the grand Dohany Street Synagogue and the Frankel synagogue helped deepen my understanding of the legacy of Rabbi Rubinovitz and of the culture of our congregation and its history.

The Jewish population in Hungary today is between 60-90,000 people, most of whom do not identify as Jews.  People are afraid to be marked on lists as Jews and are concerned about burdening their children with our complex legacy.  But some children are discovering their Jewish roots on their own, and Jewish communities around the world are setting up camps and schools, colleges and JCCs, synagogues and memorials to help explain to the younger generation what it means to be Jewish.   We met many people in their 20s who learned they were Jewish as teenagers and who set off on a journey to discover what this means.   For Jews, Hungary is a commemoratory, dotted with gravestones and markers of the Holocaust at every turn, but it is also becoming a place of modest rebirth, as we work to preserve the remnants that survived the Shoah for the Jewish people.

Our last stop in Budapest was the memorial to the Jews thrown into the Danube river during the last days before the liberation of the city by the Soviet army.  Our first stop in Israel was the defense ministry.  The symbolism was compelling.  Israelis have rose from powerlessness to power, from being foreigners in their own country to being in a place that any Jew can call his own.

Hitler did not succeed, Stalin did not succeed.  Judaism survived.  On this Shabbat Zachor, when we remember Amalek in all his forms, we prepare for Purim and celebration.  While our escape was narrow, we have lived to see the rebuilding of the State of Israel and the rebirth of Jewish life in the lands of the Holocaust.  May we see growing peace in our world and safety for our people everywhere.  And let us say: Amen.

REPORT FROM BUDAPEST AND ISRAEL, Part Two

Shabbat Shalom.

This past week, together with Jews the world over, we read the Book of Esther and celebrated the holiday of Purim.  A pivotal moment in the story is recorded in chapter four.  Esther has won a beauty contest and is the new Queen of Persia.  She was placed in that role by her uncle Mordechai, and we are told that she did not reveal her origins; no one in the palace knew that she was a Jew.  At the critical moment, when Haman and the King have ordered the murder and plundering of the Jews, Esther is concerned that she is in no position to help.  How can she enter the King’s presence without an invitation?

Mordechai’s response is critical, clear and has a message that Jews have heard ever since:

“Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the King’s palace.”

Linked in a covenant of fate, Jews everywhere, in high station and low, in cities and villages, wealthy and poor share a common destiny and when the lives of some are threatened, the lives of all are at risk.

And then Mordechai adds a second equally powerful message, “U’mi yodea,” or, “Who knows, perhaps you have become Queen for just such a crisis.”

Those twin messages—that there is a bond that connects all Jews everywhere, and that you never know when fate brings you to the place you need to be to make a difference—resonated powerfully for me just a week ago, when I went on a rabbinic mission to Budapest, Hungary, and then to Israel, to learn about the work of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel.  This morning, following up on my report last Shabbat about what I learned in Budapest, I want to say a few words about the work of the Joint and the Jewish Agency and how our support for Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston–which supports both organizations—makes a major difference.

Like many of you, I envisioned the Joint and the Jewish Agency as organizations with a focused agenda: the Joint helps Jews dealing with poverty and oppression, most often in nations with non-democratic governments.  And the Jewish Agency, having helped create the State of Israel, now helps resettle refugees.  But, this is far from the current reality.

In Hungary today, after the loss of half a million Jews in the last months of the Holocaust, only 60,000-100,000 Jews who have some level of connection to Judaism and the Jewish community remain.  Today, Hungary has the largest non-immigrant Jewish community in Europe.  But most of those who cared about their Jewish identity left in 1945, after the Holocaust, in 1948, when the communists took over and Israel was created, or in 1956, at the end of the Hungarian revolution.  Of those that remained, about 8,000 come to services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; and of that 8,000, 6,000 attend a service at just one synagogue, the grand Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest.  For the rest, all children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, Jewish identity is tentative at best.  Throughout our stay, we met young people in their teens and twenties who only found out that their families were Jewish as adolescents, sometimes from a dying grandparent.  After the Nazis, the Hungarian fascists and the communists of Stalinist Russia, the fear of being found out as a Jew abides.  If nothing is done, the vast majority of those 100,000 Jews will disappear in one or two generations.

The work of the Joint is to prevent Jews from losing their connection to their Jewish roots.  They do this through a vibrant Jewish Community Center in Budapest that offers programs for parents and children; for basic Jewish education; a place for teens and 20-somethings to hang out on Saturday night; a coffee house, and a sports and cultural center.  There is an Israel center nearby that offers Israeli culture and a place for Israelis and Hungarian Jews to meet.  And, perhaps most importantly, there is a summer camp running multiple sessions each summer for young people to get their first taste of living a Jewish life.  Every 12 day session, 3-5 kids arrive at the camp not knowing that they are Jewish.  The counselors call their parents and sit with the youngsters as they discover a new identity.  The Joint is working in democratic Hungary, to preserve a Jewish community.

In Israel, we were introduced to the work of the Jewish Agency, and of the Joint, which  provides critical social services that supplement government-funded programs.  Even with Israel’s strong economy, the volunteer and philanthropic work of these agencies plays a vital role.  We met young people, recent high school graduates, who are serving a pre-army Shnat Sherut, a year of volunteering to help troubled teens in the Kiryat Yearim youth village.  We went to a Center for Independent Living where people with physical handicaps are given the skills, training and equipment to live fuller and more autonomous lives.  The mottos of the center are “nothing for us without us” and “helping find the ability in disability.”

And finally, we heard the head of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky, the hero of the Soviet Jewry movement, speak about the work of the Agency beyond aliyah.  Sharansky introduced us to soldiers in the Nativ program, a group that combines recent immigrants learning about Judaism during their army service and soldiers who discovered that they were not halakhically Jewish and are studying for conversion under the auspices of the army rabbinic court.  And he also spoke of the Jewish Agency’s role in strengthening Jewish identity in the diaspora, including the United States.  Some of our support for the Jewish Agency comes back to us in the form of birthright trips; Masa grants for longer trips to Israel for study; and shlichim, young Israelis who spend time in American camps and on American campuses to build connections with our young people.

We are deeply honored that tomorrow night Natan Sharansky will speak from this bimah at an open public event.  The talk and program begin at 7:30 p.m. and you might want to come a bit early to find parking and a good seat.  The band Safam will also be performing.

To return to lessons of the story of Esther: who knows, but perhaps I joined this trip to help remind us that the work of saving Jews around the world is not over with the fall of the Soviet Union; and the work of supporting Israel and its people has not ended with the creation of the state and the building of its economic base.  There are still social needs that rely on our support and there are still things we need from Israel that are provided by the Jewish Agency.  I want to encourage all of you to go to Israel, and for those who can, to stop in Eastern Europe on the way.  In a place where Jews have known so much loss, our generation has the opportunity to help preserve Jewish life.   We all share a destiny. We each can help make a difference.

Who knew Passover wine could taste so good? Join us from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. to taste over 50 Kosher for Passover wines. The event is open to the public and sponsored by Gordon’s Liquors. Order that night (cash or check). Pick up order at CMT on Mar. 25th from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. or by appointment.

Can’t make it to the event? Download the Passover Wine Order Form, and fax it in to our office at (617) 332-2871.

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Minhah/Maariv Service, 8:00-9:00 p.m. in the Chapel, concluding with Havdalah

Tikkun begins in the Schwartz Social Hall

Social Time, 9:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

First Study Session,  9:30p.m.-10:45 p.m.

Rabbi Leonard Gordon and Becca Heyman will be leading the session with a teaching entitled, “Learning to Receive through our Bodies and Souls.” There will be Text study, gentle Yoga and Meditation on the themes of the giving of torah and the gifts of our bodies and souls. Yoga will focus on stretches and breathing and will be done seated. Beginners are very welcome. All texts will be studied in translation.

Break/Refreshments, 10:45p.m.-11:00 p.m.

Second Study Session (Schwartz), 11:00-11:30 p.m.

Led by Dr. Davin Wolok.

“Meeting God Within and Without: The Experience of Revelation from the Bible through Hassidism to Present-Day Spirituality”

When we speak of the revelation of the Torah our focus is normally on the words which God revealed to Moses and the Jewish people.  In this study session our primary focus will be on the experiential dimension of the event of revelation, the way in which we are both transformed and fulfilled through the encounter with God.  Can revelation be an event occurring not only when God confronts us from without, but when we experience a presence and voice welling up from within?  Are there hints in our tradition that if we got in touch with our deepest selves we would already find within the truth of the Torah?  Sources from the Bible to the present-day will be explored in this effort to find both God and – ourselves.

Break  11:30-11:45

Text study and concluding meditation led by Rabbi Gordon and Becca Heyman, 11:45-midnight

This is an exciting CMT Sisterhood event at The Paint Bar in West Newton. Come have fun, be creative, and take home your own masterpiece. We will be painting Water Lily Pond.

The cost is $35 per person. Light refreshments will be served, and wine will be available for purchase. To RSVP, contact Marci Sage at (617) 332-7998!

One plot: $1,500 each (Regularly $2,000)

Two or more plots: $1,000 each (Regularly $2,000 each)

These prices will be available from March 1 through June 30th. After July 1st, our prices return to $2,000 per plot. Mishkan Tefila Memorial Park is located in West Roxbury. CMT will be happy to help you with this decision. For more information, please contact Tony Daniels at (617) 332-7770.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

The CMT Museum is thrilled to invite you to a Conversation with Marietta Cambareri, Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture and Jetskalina H. Phillips Curator of Judaica Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

A recent endowment to the MFA, Boston to support the “study, acquisition and display of Judaica” has resulted in the creation of a Judaica curatorship, and a new endeavor to feature Judaica at the Museum.  Marietta Cambareri will discuss the pieces already in the MFA’s collection and will give an overview of the Museum’s ideas for the future in this new area of collecting and display.

Refreshments will be served.  All are welcome.