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Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation
Bethlehem, NH 03574
Passover 2024 - Nissan 5784
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FROM THE CO-PRESIDENTS
“We’ll Be Home For Pesach”
BHC Will Host Its First Communal Passover Seder
Every year beginning on the evening of 15 Nisan, families all over the Jewish world commemorate the first two nights of Passover with a festive meal, called a “seder,” and special service following the order of the Hagaddah. Many synagogues across the country offer a communal seder for those who would like join with their fellow Jews to celebrate Passover. In keeping with this time honored custom, the Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation will hold its initial communal Passover seder on the second night of the holiday, Tuesday, April 23, at 5:00 PM, in the community room of our Synagogue on Strawberry Hill Street in Bethlehem.
For congregants outside of Bethlehem, Rabbi Donna will lead a second-night seder via “Zoom” at 4:25 PM (See Rabbi Donna’s message and registration link below). Just as placing an egg on the seder plate reminds us of the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem, we remember the lives lost or languishing in Gaza as hostages from recent attacks against Israel. Please read Rabbi Donna’s suggestions for remembering them at your own seder table.
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We are grateful to be able to gather together safely in our sanctuary, Beit Seifer and community rooms. Thanks to Mike Adler, our building and security committees, and special thanks to Rebecca Porges for leading a wonderful children’s Purim event on March 31 (after being “snowed out” on Purim day)! We are looking forward to many more children’s events at BHC. The children are our future!
We look forward to Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum’s return on Sunday, May 5, to Bethlehem to join in candle lighting, words, music, song and even dancing for our Holocaust Remembrance Service in our sanctuary.
Looking forward to a bright new season here at BHC. As always, we couldn’t do it without the support of all members and friends.
Dave and Melissa
Co-presidents Dave Goldstone and Melissa Potter
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FROM RABBI KIRSHBAUM
Shalom everyone,
As I wrote in a recent email to members, BHC is very much a bricks-and-mortar synagogue (although clad in clapboard) and has been a part of the landscape of downtown Bethlehem, NH since 1920. We’ve also developed a robust Zoom presence since the pandemic and when we’re able to be together in person in the summer and early fall, we now do our best to include Zoomers –– except for this coming Tuesday, April 23rd at the 2nd Night Seder. Co-president Melissa Potter will host the in-person 2nd night seder in the synagogue and I’ll be hosting a 45-minute 2nd night seder on Zoom. We hope this split into two separate events will add a sense of intimacy and warmth to both seders, and will encourage those nearby to attend in person and those at a distance to claim a sense of belonging to our community nevertheless. If you haven’t (re)joined BHC this year, now would be a good time to do so. See below for details.
As with every other Jewish holiday since Simchat Torah last October 7th, this Passover will no doubt be bittersweet at best. One way we can bear witness to the sorrow and uncertainty and losses of the moment, not to mention the historic changes unfolding around us, is to add or subtract rituals. For example, in addition to a cup of wine for Elijah and a goblet of water for Miriam, we can add a table setting and a chair draped in yellow to acknowledge a particular hostage or all of them who still remain, if alive, in a hell we cannot even begin to imagine. We can make do with two matzahs instead of the usual three, in order to acknowledge still-unfolding disasters (normally, half of the middle matzah of three is broken to become the afikomen). Some are adding a flower to the seder plate to remember those Israeli women who were raped and brutalized by Hamas.
Or as I’ve been putting it –– having lost one of my closest friends, a true humanitarian, on Oct 7th when she was hideously murdered in her home on Kibbutz Be’eri: Vivian Silver was not “murdered by Hamas.” Vivian was murdered by one, or several, enraged, likely drugged, probably young men who had made varying degrees of commitment to a vicious ideology of terror and destruction, despite their mothers’ or grandmothers' deepest misgivings. I’ve noticed that my grieving for my darling friend gets stuck when the utter specificity of her is juxtaposed, in the same sentence, with the cold abstraction of an acronym for a terrorist brotherhood. But I digress. Please consider adding or subtracting a seder ritual in this tumultuous year. As previous generations have made abundantly clear to us, it is through our creativity and willingness to adapt quickly to new realities, including through the crafting of new rituals, that we eventually find the strength and determination to persist as a people.
hag sameach,
Rabbi Kirshbaum
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Here are several links relevant to the ZOOM 2nd night seder:
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Register for the Zoom seder here
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To support BHC and keep Jewish life alive and well in rural New Hampshire, renew your membership here.
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We’ll be using The 30-Minute Seder as our haggadah; please consider buying a digital copy for $19.95 here
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ZOOM EREV SHABBAT SERVICES
Psalms, songs, drash, and kaddish
Zoom into erev Shabbat services on Fridays at 5:00 pm ET. Look for an email from Margaret with the weekly service details, a PDF of the prayer book and the weekly Zoom link.
Request to join the Zoom link mailing list here
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MONDAY AND THURSDAY MORNINGS AT 8 AM:
A FEW MINUTES OF COMFORT AND COMMUNITY
Join BHC on Mondays and Thursdays at 8:00 am ET on Zoom as we continue, first off, to offer a psalm – a text to which we Jews turn to confront sorrow – then hear a brief teaching to fortify us and, every few sessions, check in with one another.
A reminder email goes out the night before each session.
Newcomers always welcome. Please refer those outside of the BHC community to request the registration link here.
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HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL SERVICE, SUNDAY MAY 5, 2:00 PM
Holocaust and Genocide
From Darkness to Light
Experience our multi-media Holocaust Memorial Service, which will include live performances of traditional songs, poems, prayers. We will share our heartfelt wishes for connection, community and universal well-being. Enjoy light refreshments after the service.
Meet in the BHC sanctuary or join by Zoom. Request the Zoom link here.
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SOUNDS IN THE SANCTUARY 2024 ARTIST PROFILE: "THE ODESA BOYS"
Sounds in the Sanctuary welcomes the return of acclaimed clarinetist Julian Milkis and virtuosic pianist Maxim Lubarsky, the Ukrainian-born musicians who call themselves "The Odesa Boys." Their 2023 performance presented a wide-ranging program of music from both the classical and jazz traditions.Their playing reminded many of the great Benny Goodman - Milkis was Goodman's only student - and moved our audience to call for and receive several encores.
Their 2024 program will include tangos, an excerpt from a beloved movie score, and performances of evocative classical and contemporary compositions.
See a personal note to concert-goers from Julian Milkis here
See "The Odesa Boys" planned 2024 program here.
Become a sponsor: Donate Online
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WHITE MOUNTAIN JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2024 SEASON DATES
Heads up Festival fans. Meet us at The Colonial Theater in Bethlehem on Thursdays, July 18, August 1, 15, 29 and September 5 at 7:00 pm.
As always, your ticket includes our festival’s popular patio parties beginning at 6:00 pm with complimentary refreshments and an assortment of beverages. At 6:30 pm the evening’s guest speaker will introduce the film and host a post-film Q & A.
Coming soon: the films to be shown. Stay tuned.
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GENTLE YOGA CLASSES WITH SUSAN BONNICI
Registered yoga teacher Susan Bonnici has volunteered to offer another gentle yoga course onsite at BHC. Classes will meet weekly on Tuesdays, at 4:00 pm, from July 9 through August 27.
Susan will be guiding students to gradually build flexibility and skills that they can take from the mat to life. Suggested donation to participate in the series is $60.
Register here.
Questions? Contact Susan.
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PITCH IN - BHC'S ROAD CLEANUP CREW WANTS YOU
Leslie Drier's joyfully decorated classic convertible - painted by the multi-talented Alice Drier - will transport some lucky volunteers, trash bags, safety vests, gloves and "picker upper claws" to the section of road we have been attending to for years. BHC volunteers will pick up trash on Route 142 (Agassi Street) from the Bethlehem line to Route 18 in Franconia. In a few hours, the BHC crew does our part to keep the North Country roadsides beautiful. The number of beverage cans, cigarette butts and other junk is impressive, but the BHC team has repeatedly been up to the task.
Contact Leslie to volunteer, date TBD.
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LETTERS FROM ISRAEL
Julie Zuckerman continues to write essays on the 'big ups and more downs" of life in Israel today. Her letters can be found on her Substack page. From her April 1 letter:
The protests are heating up. Yesterday ... people converged on Jerusalem for a protest at the Knesset. It definitely had the feel of the judicial reform protests of a year ago, but with the addition of people carrying posters of the hostages.
From her April 15 letter:
Pesach is in a little over a week, and the thought of so many families having to sit around the seder table with empty chairs is heartbreaking. Halavai - may it soon come to pass - that the hostages are released and will soon be back with their families.
Read her April 15 letter on her Substack page here
Read her April 1 letter on her Substack page here (scroll down)
Join Julie's mailing list here.
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PURIM CELEBRATION DELIGHTS DESPITE SNOW DELAY
BHC and Congregation Beth El of St. Johnsbury celebrated Purim in the North Country a week late but nonetheless enthusiastically. Thanks to Rebecca Porges who organized a delightful children's program, Rabbi Kirshbaum for her Megilla reading, and to all the costumed revelers and hamantaschen eaters for participating in this festive event.
More here.
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MEET SARAH WOLFBERG
A Profile by Annie Hoyer
Board member Sarah Wolfberg serves on BHC’s ritual committee and manages the BHC yahrzeit data base and reminder system.
“I try to approach Judaism from a place of heritage, how to be a link in the chain. I’m interested in what makes people feel passionate about Judaism.”
Read her full profile here.
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BHC MEMBER GORDON BENNETT HONORED AT KEHILLATH ISRAEL GALA
BHC member Gordon Bennett was the featured guest at the April 7, 2024 Kehillath Israel Annual Gala in Brookline, MA. Gordon is stepping down after five years' service as synagogue president.
Gordon is married to BHC board member, religious committee co-chair and security committee co-chair Lucy Goodhart.
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FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT US
IT'S AS EASY AS CLICKING HERE
Or send your (tax-deductible) contribution to: Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation,
P. O. Box 395, Bethlehem, NH 03574
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JOIN OUR CONGREGATION...
BHC comes to you through the support of the many, many people who appreciate what we do and who want to ensure a home for Jewish life and community in the White Mountains. We are already 103 years old and going strong!
Join us as a member or a friend. The BHC Board emphasizes the importance of inclusion, regardless of anyone's ability to pay.
Our fiscal year runs from November 1 to October 31 and now would be a good time to consider renewals. The additional building assessment is placed in a restricted account to pay for capital building expenses. The security fee, also restricted, pays for High Holiday police protection and other security expenses.
Learn more about membership and support
Join our mailing list
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