CHAILITES

October 20, 2022

Simchat Torah Celebration & Religious School Consecration

Please join us this Friday, 10/21/22 at 6:30 pm as we formally welcome our  new students into the TBC Religious School community in a beautiful ceremony called Consecration. Consecration marks the beginning of formal Jewish study and generally takes place at the beginning of Kindergarten, or whenever a child begins his or her Jewish education. The ceremony will be held as part of our Simchat Torah celebration and is a lovely and meaningful ceremony for children and families alike! A special oneg, sponsored by the Barenberg family in honor of Baxter's Bar Mitzvah, will follow! 

TBC Sukkah Successfully Raised!

Thank you to all who came out on Saturday October 8th to help us raise and decorate our Sukkah and help move the Bimah back to its normal home! A marvelous time was had by all in attendance, and we are happy to report that our temporary booth – our Sukkah – has held up well throughout the Festival, despite the torrential downpour last Thursday evening! We will leave our beautiful Sukkah up for a few more days, so if you have not yet had the opportunity to “Lasheiv baSukkah” – dwell in the Sukkah – please feel free to drop by and eat your lunch (or snack, dinner, etc) in our TBC Community Sukkah! MORE PICTURES IN OUR TBC SHUTTERFLY GALLERY!

New TBC Social Action Program Initiatives for 5783!

Thanks to all those who voted to select TBC's new social action initiatives for the year. The three areas that rose to the top were:

• Women's Reproductive and Health Rights
• Antisemitism and Hate Crimes
• Gun Violence Prevention

Other issues received many votes, and it was exciting and impressive to see the overall level of engagement by our members and families!

NEXT STEPS: The Social Action Planning Task Force will be reaching out to those who voted to discuss initial action items and to prepare for a special congregational program on social action tentatively scheduled for December 4.

TBC will of course continue to engage in our existing, important social action / Tikkun Olam projects and support others that may arise, but in this exciting new set of initiatives we hope to achieve even more through focused community action, partnering when possible with other congregations, the URJ, and other relevant external organizations.

If you have questions or wish to help shape our social action agenda, please send email to tbc-time-for-action@googlegroups.com

Thanks for a Successful Food and

Diaper Drive!!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to make our High Holiday Food/Diaper Collection a huge success. A special thank you to the Heft children for their $1350 donation they raised on Facebook from a distance in honor of their father Michael, a TBC Youth Director and teacher and Miriam Messe, teacher and TBC volunteer. Items and monetary donations were sent to the Redding Food Pantry, Wilton Food Pantry, Community Action Agency and Danbury Women’s Center.

-- Jane Alexander and Peggy Zamore, Social Action Co-chairs

Birthday wishes to our TBC family members who are celebrating birthdays in October! 

Joshua Valinsky

Jonah Meyer

Doris Bender

Scott Brown

Caleb Felton

Andrew Serby

Jeremy Rabinowitz

Penny Grayson

Maya Valinsky

Phil Dolcimascolo

Pamela Klem

Marc Mellon

Annabelle Ruth Stewart

Susan Hagan

Suzanne Kramer

Brian Oren

David Greenberg

Sondra Tepper

Stephen Davis

Blaine Langberg

Olive Siegel

Mitch Farber

Maxine Sparks

Talia Valinsky

Baxter Barenberg's Bar Mitzvah Project!

"I am going to be doing my mitzvah project with an organization called DIG USA. DIG stands for Determination, Integrity, Growth. It’s an organization that I've been involved with since I was 7 years old - that is almost half my life! It started with one coach/ owner named Dan, who has created this organization to help the underserved communities in CT learn to play both chess and soccer, creating both sports and educational opportunities. After one of my first chess lessons my Mom told me I had just helped give a free lesson to a less fortunate kid in a town like Bridgeport. DIG works on the lesson for lesson model, providing free lessons for every paid lesson, creating opportunities for all. 

For my mitzvah project, I'm going to be raising money and gear for the Bridgeport United Girls Team, which is run by DIG. It is a free program open to the girls of Bridgeport. They need new uniforms and all gear. Contributions will accepted through 10/22/22, the date of my bar mitzvah."

Read more about and contribute to Baxter's mitzvah project!

A reminder that the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County schedules a variety of programs that TBC members may find interesting.

Their calendar of upcoming events is available here. Those wishing to receive their weekly mailing list will find the registration form here.

Yahrzeits October 14-20

Zeicher tzaddik livrachah!

Friday, October 14

Isadore Halle, grandfather of Richard Bloom

Saturday, October 15

Claire Haskel-Levy, mother of Debra Case

Sunday, October 16

Isidore Zamore, father-in-law of Jean Zamore

Monday, October 17

Samuel Lizan, grandfather of Meryll Wolfman

It is traditional to light a memorial candle at home on the eve of the yahrzeit. You may also find it meaningful while kindling the yahrzeit candle to offer prayers of remembrance or reflect on your loved one’s life. Many also choose this time to make monetary donations in memory of loved ones.