Dear JCK,
Dear JCK,L'shanah Tovah. I had the pleasure of being with you during Rosh Hashanah this year. I trust you were happy with our services and found in them what you were looking for. Judaism is not a tailored suit with just one pattern and choice of material. Rather it is an array of fabrics and a multitude of patterns with which to to create a beautiful outfit. I hope you found your attire- or at least found some rich fabric that you know will make a resplendent garment.I too hope you enjoyed Rabbi Mark S. Shapiro's presence as leader of our congregation. From our earliest correspondence with him to his arrival and through his time on Kauai, his warmth, lack of pretense, and obvious desire to serve our community, made him a good fit for our small, vibrant, and diverse community.High Holiday SurveyYesterday we offered a brief, 10 question survey that will help the board be more responsive to the needs and desires of our congregation. Please take five minutes to complete the survey, if you have not done so already. Your input is important to us.Hope to see you at our next Shabbat service in November. If you would like to participate in this or future services, please let anyone on the board know.B'shalom.
Take the 2009 High Holiday Survey
Updated 11/9/09: The survey is now closed. Look for a report on the survey to follow, and thank you for your participation.Please jump in and help your Community. Complete the brief 10-question online survey, by clicking on this link: 2009 High Holiday Survey.
- Tell us what you think and want.
- Your input counts and gives our community direction.
Once the survey has been completed we'll be publishing the results here on the website.Thank you from JCK's Board of Directors
New Community Photos Page
Welcome to another new feature of our website.I've been working with JCK photos and am ready to reveal the first of them to you. Please have a look.You’ll recognize family, friends, community members and visitors as you thumb through these first two albums: “High Holidays 2009” and “Events and Celebrations.”I welcome your photos of our community events. Please send me your digital pictures (plus any description) via email to carol@kauaijewishcommunity.com. I'll share them on this new fabulous web site!Enjoy and please join in!
Bar Mitzvah this Saturday
Congratulations to Kiran Abrams, his family, and to Jack Perlmutter, for helping prepare Kiran for his Bar Mitzvah.You are invited to attend and celebrate this milestone in Kiran's life:
- 10:00 am, Saturday October 17, 2009
- Kula High School, Kilauea
- For more information, visit http://gabeabrams.com/barmitzvah or phone (808) 828-6467
October Newsletter
Important notice:If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this new website-generated newsletter. Enable HTML in your email in order to be able to click on our links.The final legacy e-mail and hard copy newsletters have been sent to our mailing list. Unless you subscribe, you will no longer receive newsletters. Please tell your friends.Note: For those without Internet access, the newsletter will be sent on request via US Mail (to members who have paid their dues). Your email subscription, however, saves the community considerable labor, postage, printing and paper.Events and Services We have posted our schedule on the community events calendar. Please have a look at it to see all of the details, then join us. New items added include the following:
- High Holiday services: See calendar for times.
- Sukkah on Shabbat pot luck dinner: Friday, October 2, 2009 5 pm. See calendar for details.
- Sukkot under the stars pot luck dinner: Friday, October 9, 2009 6 pm. See calendar for details.
- Shabbat service: Saturday, November 21, 2009 10am. See calendar for details.
- Chanukah party potluck: Friday, December 11, 2009 7pm. See calendar for details.
- JCK Board meeting: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 7pm. Call any Board member for more information.
Dues and FeesAs a reminder, annual dues are now due!
- Family Membership $250
- Individual Membership $150
Please send your membership dues to us by mail or bring your check to services.We welcome all Jews and guests to worship with us even if they cannot afford the full dues.Please contact any board member to make other arrangements.Sunday School Classes.
- Classes have resumed in Lihue and Princeville.
Mahalo to Rabbi Mark Shapiro for the inspirational High Holyday Services.Congratulations to Vicki Goldberg's granddaughter, who is a recipient of the 2009 World of Children award.
Jewish Service Broadcast Article and Video
Dear Friends,Here is a very moving piece about a Jewish service broadcast around the world from Nazi Germany during the war.Shalom, Martyhttpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZihm6VlYjo
Can you believe it? It's 5770 already.
Dear Friends,Life seems to be moving at an accelerated pace these days. So it behooves us at this special time of the year to take a 
moment, take a breath, slow down, and re-connect to the values we hold dear in our lives.May this be a sweet year. We pray the prayer that has been uttered since the dawn of civilization - may this be a year of peace in the world. May there be peace in Israel, in our nation, in our communities, in our homes and our hearts. Ken yehi ratzon.Carole and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones L'Shanah Tovah.Shalom,Marty
Bio for Rabbi Mark S. Shapiro
Rabbi Mark Shapiro will be leading our 5770 (2009) High Holiday services.Mark Shapiro is a Chicago-born Reform rabbi who served Congregation BJBE in Glenview, Illinois, a congregation of 1,000 families, for 38 years until his retirement in 2000.He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, to which he has returned as an adult student for the past six years. He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1960.Rabbi Shapiro continues to mentor rabbinic students and has inspired some 25 young people from his congregation to become rabbis,
cantors, and Jewish educators. He has created “Searcher’s Groups,” an approach to study and community building within synagogues.He and his wife Hanna have led many groups to Israel and also to Eastern Europe, Turkey and Spain They also visited and brought Jewish supplies to refuseniks in the Soviet Union in ’82.Rabbi Shapiro loves teaching adults(and believes it is vice-versa too) and has served as faculty on Elder Hostels.He served as a part time hospice chaplain 2005-2008Rabbi Shapiro has served Congregation Kona Beth Shalom as their High Holyday rabbi on three occasions , and once returned for Purim. He also served the congregation in Juneau Alaska for two High Holydays . This makes him especially expert in states which have more recently joined the Union.The Shapiros have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren whose skills and good looks cannot be described in such a short document.
High Holiday Greetings from Rabbi Mark
When people hear that Hanna and I are going to Hawaii for the High Holydays, they chuckle with a shade of envy. “Boy, Rabbi, you fell into a great gig again" (we had a gig on the Big Island for three years).But when we had a gig in Juneau for two years, we got a different reaction. “Juneau? Why Juneau? Are you a masochist?”Nope, neither a hedonist nor a masochist. Just a retired rabbi and spouse, looking to find Jews in the newer states of the union with whom to celebrate the 5,770th birthday of the world . And the experience, no matter the weather, has been remarkably the same.Rosh Hashana is considered by our people to be the birthday of the world. Our logical side certainly agrees that this planet and the cosmos are much older than that, So 5770 stands for whatever the unknown beginning was.A midrash asks “So, was the first day of creation Rosh Hashana?” It seems like the simplest of questions. And it answers “No, the 6th day was Rosh Hashana,” And that confusing answer comes to teach us that the world didn’t really start until the creation of human beings. And that was on day six”So God didn’t just want a world. He wanted it with us, to care for it, nurture it, learn from it, and perfect ourselves. It’s OUR birthday—a time, like most birthdays to figure out what we could be and should be.Let’s celebrate with that in mind. But don’t try to blow out the candles without all the rest of us helping you.Hanna and I are looking forward to meeting many of you in the coming days.Sincerely,Rabbi Mark Shapiro
August/September Newsletter
High Holidays
We have posted our schedule of High Holiday services on the community events calendar. Please have a look at it.All services will take place at St. Michael's Church in Lihue, unless otherwise noted.This year, Rabbi Mark Shapiro will lead us in prayer and song. Please let us know if you would like to participate in a leadership role. Readers in English and Hebrew, opening and closing the ark, carrying the Torah, greeting visitors, and many other roles are available for honoring our traditions.Membership DuesPlease Commit to Action."Unless commitment is made, there are only promises but no plans." Peter Drucker"Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved." Bill Gates"Commitment turns a promise into reality with words that speak boldly of your intentions and actions that speak louder than words." Steve Brunkhorst.Have you made your commitment to our community? We need YOU in order to be able to continue our commitment to perpetuating Jewish traditions on Kaua'i.Dues are now due!